The Blank Face Affair
by degunther
Summary: Kate's response to an Officer Needs Assistance call lands the Team in the middle of a case with international reach and complications.


**The Blank Face Affair**

Kate's response to an Officer Needs Assistance call lands the Team in the middle of a case with international reach and complications.

**Prelude**

They had been hunting this guy for a week now and they were frustrated. Every time they thought they were closing in on him, he had managed to escape. The tip came from an unimpeachable source. The killer was holed up in a warehouse on West 82nd Street, but he would not be there for long. He would be there only for a moment, to pay for and receive his new identity and then he would disappear for good. There was no time to call for SWAT or wait for backup the Team needed to react now.

"Castle you stay in the car," said Kate.

"No," said Castle matter-of-factly, as he got out of the car, took off his jacket and strapped on his vest. "Someone has to watch your back, and that someone is me."

"What about us bro?" asked Esposito.

"You guys do a great job of clearing the front," acknowledged Castle. "But you can't be in two places at the same time."

"Castle …"

"Kate we are wasting time lets go."

The warehouse was nondescript, just like every other warehouse on the block. It had a loading bay that could handle three trucks. Currently the freight entry doors were down. The only other entrance was the doorway to the left of the loading bay doors.

"Supposedly he is meeting his contact to buy his new identity," said Esposito. "The swap is supposed to take place in the manager's office on the second floor. There are two sets of stairs leading up to the office. I suggest that Kevin and I take the steps on the right and you and Castle take the steps on the left."

"This could be a shooting gallery," added Ryan. "If he is on the catwalk then he will have a clear field of fire on us. We should not overlook the warehouse floor, because he could be hiding on the ground floor."

When the Team entered the dimly light warehouse they split into the two teams, Esposito and Ryan went to the right, and Beckett and Castle went to the left. By unspoken agreement Kate cleared the catwalk and Castle cleared the ground floor. The Team moved quickly and surely taking advantage of the available cover to the base of the steps and quickly rushed up them toward the manager's office. Crouching to stay below the windows, they reached the door. The team reformed with the three Detectives on one side and Castle in position to open the door for them. On a silent count of three Castle opened the door and Esposito and Ryan rushed into the room followed by Kate.

"NYPD," they all yelled, then after a moment "Clear".

As Kate was walking back out on to the platform around the manager's office, Castle heard the sound of a door opening and a glimpse of movement from the rest room doors. 'How could we have been so sloppy,' thought Castle. "Kate down," he yelled as he rushed to put himself between her and the movement on the floor.

Kate heard Castle yell saw him start to move and then saw the movement on the floor. She drew he weapon as she heard three shots being fired. She shifted to her left to get around Castle's slumping form. Her Glock spit out four shots in return, all four of them hitting their assailant in the chest. She looked down at the slumping Castle as he continued to fall toward then over the rail to the floor below.

"Castle noooo!," screamed Kate.

**Chapter 1 – A Family Meeting **

Kate awake with a start, she was sweating and her heart was beating incredibility fast, hard, and loud. She opened her eyes and ears. She was safe, in her bed, in the Loft. Her son was starting to make fussy noises. 'He is just reacting to me,' thought Kate. 'If I calm down, so will he.' As she started to control her breathing Kate thought 'My son. What a great phrase. James Alexander Castle I love you. It's a shame we don't know any of Castle's fathers names. Perhaps when I get to see him for the first time I can ask him. We can use one of them for our next son.'

Kate turned and looked at Castle. Sometime during the night he must have rolled away from her. 'He's safe,' breathed Kate. 'He's safe.' With a silent sigh of relief Kate rolled back towards her son's crib and tried to get to sleep. After several minutes she shook her head, this isn't going to work. I guess it's hot chocolate time. Getting up as silently as she could, Kate donned her dressing gown and proceeded to the kitchen. As she was pouring milk into the pan she heard that familiar snarl that was Castle in her mind. 'He's awake and will be here soon. I guess it's hot chocolate for two,' she smiled.

Kate reflected for a moment, 'You know James has a snarl too. It's adorable. We will have at least one more,' vowed Kate. During her pregnancy assignment she had worked 'Special Projects' for the Chief of Detectives. The assignment had opened her eyes to other facets of police work. She loved, enjoyed and excelled at the intellectual challenges some of the tasks had presented. In her heart she knew that she could not work the street forever and the assignments had proven to her that she could excel in the intelligence and logistics parts of the force. Of course for every one of the 'good' projects there was the less than fun projects, organize a tour for some VIPs, give briefings to the press, budget planning sessions, and plan an office party etc. The main drawback through all of this was no Castle, but at least when she got home at night they had something to talk about.

Office life has a life of its own, remarked Kate. The funniest event had occurred a week before James was born. Kate had been in the break room making a cup of coffee with her back to the door when an old friend, Inspector Green, looked in and said 'Black with two sugars please Darlin'.

'I 'm not your Darling,' snapped Kate in a clear, crisp and cold tone.

Inspector Green stopped dead in tracks looked at Kate again and said in a sincere voice "Sorry Detective Beckett."

"What no pregnant women jokes," retorted Kate.

"Not while she is armed, can see and hear me," replied the Inspector with a grin. "Especially since I know she can out shoot ninety-nine per cent of the force."

"Apology accepted," said Kate in a conciliatory tone. "That was Black with two sugars, right?"

"Yes ma'am….Thanks… Did you hear the one about….."

Kate's musings were interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door opening and the sound of footsteps. When Castle came into view Kate could not help but smile. Castle, as always was dressed in his tattered bathrobe, which had a new stain or two thanks to James, and that innocent sleepy boy expression that Kate adored.

"You ok love," Castle asked with a yawn, as he reached for his mug of hot chocolate.

'He always seems to time it perfectly,' mused Kate. 'Never a minute early or late, he comes almost always when the cocoa is ready. How does he do that?'

Kate waited until Rick had taken his first sip and had placed the mug down. "I had a nightmare where I saw you that you were shot, and fall of off a ledge that was at least twenty feet above a concrete floor," replied Kate in a calm voice.

"You too," replied Castle.

"You weren't going to tell me," snarled Kate.

Castle quickly held up his hands in surrender, then slowly lowered them and offered one of them to Kate. "Sorry," whispered Kate as she grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. Over cocoa they compared notes about their dreams.

As they were finishing their cocoa they heard the tentative cries of their son. Smiling Castle got up and headed toward the bedroom. "It looks like a family meeting. I'll change his diaper and you prepare a bottle please."

"How do you know he's hungry?"

"Please," said Castle. "He's our son. He was just being polite by letting us finish our snack before asking for his. He'll be joining us at the table for late night cocoa soon enough."

With a shake of her head Kate started the task of preparing a bottle for James. When Castle returned Kate had the bottle ready and was reaching out for James when Castle said, "We got this. You go on and try to get back to sleep. You got a presentation to make tomorrow I mean later today."

"Your meeting the Major," replied Kate.

"The difference is you have a meeting with your boss's boss, and I'm meeting my friend to talk about our book," countered Castle. "If I yawn, Bob isn't going to care too much. Who knows how the Chief of Detectives will react if you fall asleep during the middle of your own presentation."

Kate surrendered the bottle to Castle and then came close to give her son a kiss on his cheek. "Hey what about me," mock fumed Castle.

"I'd give you a better kiss," teased Kate, "but you might drop James and I couldn't have that," as she stretched to kiss his check.

"You know James," said Castle talking to James as he was offering him his snack, "you have one very beautify and sexy mother. I hope you can find your 'Kate' someday and I hope you find her sooner in life than I found mine. Let's see last time we were talking about famous Americans. Today I think we will talk about Benjamin Franklin,…Never heard of him you say, well let me tell you…"

Kate smiled when she heard Castle start his dialogue. The first time he had done that she thought he was crazy, but there was no mistaking the fact that James had his eyes open and was looking at Castle throughout the entire monologue. "Did you do this with Alexis," asked Kate?

"Yes," replied Castle without hesitation, "and you see how she turned out."

As Kate went back to bed she thought, 'this is not the first time we have shared a scary dream. We've been warned. It's up to us to prevent it from happening. If this is from you Kate and Karl, then thanks.' Kate still could not get over the co-incidence that Karl had died a year before Castle was born and Kate had died a year before she was born. 'We will make it,' vowed Kate. 'Nothing is going to stop us from watching James and the rest of our children grow up.'

**Chapter 2 – A Funny Thing happened on the way…**

James continued to sleep deeply as the Castle's got dressed and prepared for the days activates and their nanny arrived. It had been awhile since they had shared a shower, but the old habits resurfaced quickly and made to a perfect start to the day.

Yesterday when Castle had learned that Kate had an early morning meeting downtown he asked Kate for a ride and proceeded to make an appointment with the Major. Today he had planned to spend a couple of hours in the morning with Bob, and then the rest of the day with the Mayor's Chief of Staff. The topic they were going to address was the political alliances the Mayor had to form in order to get his legislation passed, and how he had refused to play patrician politics when it came to the important legislation. It could prove to be an interesting day.

The traffic was light and they were going to be at least twenty-five minutes early. More than enough time to be sure everything is still set-up and working, thought Kate; especially since she did not have to worry about parking. The Chief had informed her that her Special Projects parking space was still unassigned and if anyone complained to him about her using it would find a deaf ear. When she went home last night she made sure that the paper copies of the presentation were printed and in the safe, the presentation was loaded on the computer and displayed properly. Everything that she could prepare for had been accomplished. If Mr. Murphy raised his ugly head then so be it.

'Code Nine', Officer Needs Assistance, bleared the radio. "That's only a half mile away," said Castle. After a few moments of silence Kate picked up the microphone and said "This is one Mary forty-seven responding to the Code Nine, ETA 3 minutes,"

"Roger one Mary forty-seven," replied central dispatch.

The 'Blue & White' was easy to spot, as was the partially open warehouse door. The set-up looked eerily like their dream. "Be careful love," they both said together and laughed. After radioing in their location and their intention to enter the building they went to the trunk and proceeded to put on their vests. After a long moment Kate reached down extracted and handed Castle her backup weapon. Next she reached in and pulled out the tactical shotgun. Much to Kate's surprise Castle accepted the weapon, but still held his baton in his off hand.

Steeling themselves they entered and quickly cleared the doorway. Unlike the warehouse in their dreams, this warehouse was brightly light and filled almost to capacity with boxes and crates. Forward and to their left they heard voices. It sounded like an interrogation, and the wrong guys were asking the questions. "If you had called it in, we would have company by now," they heard a man with a Latino accent say. "And if any police cars were within a half-mile of this place, our spotters would have told us, and their silence means you two are all alone and we are going to have fun playing skin the pig."

"Oh yeah," said another voice.

"How loud do you think they will squeal," said another.

"Just to set the mod," said the first voice, as two shots rang out followed by the cries of pain from the victims.

"NYPD," Kate yelled. "You are surrounded put down your weapons and back away from the prisoners,

They saw the leader turn and fire and in their direction. "You two that way," shouted the leader as he bolted to the right.

Kate was frustrated. She could not take a shot without endangering the men in uniform. In her mind she heard Castle's snarl, as he too recognized the situation. She almost yelled for him to stop when she him take-off down a side the aisle toward the leader. 'What was he thinking?' Kate asked herself. 'Only way' came the snarl in her mind that she associated with her husband. 'Let the Tiger pounce,' Kate thought. Twice she fired in the leader's direction; just to keep his head down and to give Castle a chance to get close and surprise him. She was surprised to see white clouds appear as the pellets shredded some of the boxes on the aisle way. It wasn't long before she heard the clear and unmistakable sound of the baton hitting flesh…hard and repeatedly.

"Detective this one is out and secure," yelled Castle just as an onrush of bullets plastered his position. "They are carrying Glock 20's, well at least this one was. It's mine now. I can see the other two. They are at your ten o'clock. Pin them down, I'm going to try to flank them."

Kate moved forward to the next available cover and fired two high shots in the general direction of the other two. "This is the NYPD. Your leader is down and secure, put down your weapons and come out with your hands up. This way you will not be harmed. In a gun fight how knows. Considering you just shot two cops…"

"We didn't do it he did," said a young voice.

"Shut up Ramón," said the other voice.

"Gentlemen," said Castle," I have you in my sights; I could drop you where you stand and no one would know the difference. I suggest you do what the Lady said."

"OK, don't shoot."

"Throw your weapons away, come out in the open, go face down on the floor with your hands behind your heads."

"Ok, ok"

Kate heard the weapons hit the floor of the warehouse and she saw the two come out with their hands up and lay down on the floor. "Detective they are in position," announced Castle.

With that Kate moved up to cover them. She saw Castle stow his baton and move to Kate to get cuffs and ties. He had done this many times before. He moved in such a manner that Kate had an unimpeded line of sight to the assailants. Also as he moved to cuff them in such a fashion that he never blocked Kate's line of sight. After the last one was secure, Castle grabbed Kate's cuff key and ran over to the Uniformed Officers.

"This is one Mary forty-seven at the warehouse on M Street; we have two officers down, request immediate medical assistance. We also have three in custody and request transport. Where in hell is the back-up?"

"EMT's in route, ten minutes, backup will be there shortly."

"Have the back-up be sure that the EMT's can get in and out quickly. These guys are in bad shape."

"Roger, will advise."

For the next several minutes, Kate had never been so amazed, impressed and proud of her husband. He quickly uncuffed and laid-out the two Officers. He unstrapped his vest and quickly tore his shirt apart to make bandages for them. One Officer's leg had been hit and it looked like the artery was pumping out blood at an alarming rate. Castle put a pressure bandage on the wound and then rigged a tourniquet. The other Officer required a pressure bandage around the abdomen. Just as he had finished the bandages, one of the officers stopped breathing. When Castle finally got him breathing on his own the other one stopped. It was a long ten minutes.

When the first Uniforms arrived Kate directed them to clear the path for the EMTs and then guard the prisoners and prepare them for transport as she scurried over to help her husband. When the EMTs finally arrived they found Castle covered in blood and still performing CPR on one of the officers and Kate on the other. It took the EMT's five minutes to stabilize the officer Kate was working on. During that time the Castle's double team the other officer.

After the EMT's had taken over the care of the officers Castle said, "Kate is that white powder what I think it is?"

Kate quickly sampled it and said "Oh My God if all of these packages are filled with this stuff then this is the biggest drug bust I have ever seen."

"Dispatch, this is one Mary forty-seven please send members of Narcotics, Major Crimes, a CSU Team, and more back-up to this location. I've never seen so much stuff in one place at one time."

"Roger one Mary forty –seven. Be aware that a Command Incident Response Team is in route."

"Good," replied Kate, "They can help provide perimeter security."

"Say again one Mary forty-seven."

"Copy, a CIR Team is in route."

**At the Chiefs Office**

Captain Gates arrived at the Chief of Detective's Office at eight-thirty. She knew Kate was giving the briefing at nine o'clock and she wanted to go over a few points with her. In her opinion Kate had done a fantastic job in pulling together and preparing the material, but there still were a couple of points the Captain thought Kate should hit header and she wanted to remind her of them. At eight forty-five the Captain was becoming concerned. At ten till the Captain left the meeting room with her phone and tried to call Detective Beckett. When it went directly to voice mail the Captain was worried.

"Dispatch this is Captain Gates. Do you have a Twenty for Sergeant Kate Beckett?"

"Sir, thirty five minutes ago she responded to a Code Nine. Thirty minutes ago she reported she and her partner were entering a warehouse on M Street."

"Who else responded to the call?"

"No one Sir."

"What," the Captain almost yelled. "Detective Beckett was the only responder to a Code Nine. You have lost contact with her for over thirty minutes and have rolled no other units there? On my authority send a SWAT Team there right now. Redirect the nearest Blue & Whites to the location. Secure the perimeter and enter with caution. Scramble a pair of EMT units just in case."

"Captain I…"

"I don't what to hear any excuses," said Captain Gates as she was turning and starting to head for the door. When she looked up she found her path blocked by both the Chief of Detectives and the Chief of Police.

"Speaker," said the Chief, pointing at the phone.

"This is Chief Burnside as I understand it you have lost contact for over thirty minutes with the only personnel who were responding to a Code Nine?"

"Yes Chief. That is correct."

"Then you will execute the Captain's last orders, on my authority."

"Yes Chief."

"And keep me posted."

"Yes Chief."

"This is Captain Gates; please keep me posted as well."

"Yes Sir"

The Captain made it two steps toward the door when her phone rang with the news about the suspects and the hurt officers. Minutes later the update about the biggest drug bust ever caused the Captain to hurry even faster to the crime scene. She was not surprised to see the other two members of the Team, Esposito and Ryan had arrived. She arrived near the end of Kate's narrative. "….my partner subdued one of the attackers and then moved into flank the other two. We convinced them to surrender."

"Pretty smart of him to move into position to shot the other two," said Inspector Davis.

The Captain had to cover a laugh with a cough when Kate replied, "My partner doesn't carry a gun Sir, just a loud and very persuasive voice….. While I was covering the suspects he was busy applying first aid and CPR to the downed Officers."

"When did you notice the drugs," asked another Inspector.

"I noticed it when I shot and saw white powder fly from some of the boxes. Castle mentioned it after the EMT's had taken control of both of the Officers. I sampled it and called for help."

"This could be the largest bust ever," said Inspector Green with a nod toward both Kate and Rick.

"Thank you Sir," said Kate with a look towards Castle, who at that moment fainted.

"Get the EMTs back her," yelled Kate as she ran to Castle. She quickly discovered Castle's pants were soaked with blood. She quickly stripped him and used the remains of his shirt to tie a pressure bandage. "Where are the EMT's", screamed Kate again.

"Here" they yelled.

"Hurry, please hurry," pleaded Kate.

They over-bandaged Kate's field dressing, hooked up an IV and rushed Castle toward their vehicle with Kate in hot pursuit.

"Kate, your keys," shouted Ryan.

With a snatch, a twist and a fling the keys were hurled in Ryan's direction while Kate continued her sprint after her husband.

After Beckett and Castle disappeared into the ambulance, and the ambulance speed out of sight, Esposito and Ryan gravitated toward Captain Gates. With a nod the Captain turned toward the Inspector and asked, "Exactly whose case is this?"

"That will be the three hundred million dollar question Captain. The Chief needs to be briefed now."

"We know Kate's I mean Detective Beckett's narrative Sir," offered Esposito.

"Yeah, from the time she answered the Code Nine call till now," added Ryan as he looked toward the exit of the warehouse where his Teammates had exited in the ambulance.

"What I want to know," continued Esposito "is why no one else answered the call."

"That is my problem Detective," said the Inspector, "from the Chief to the Chief of D's to me. I will find out why and kick the ass that needs to be kicked," affirmed the Inspector. Of all the things that had happen today, the non-response bothered everyone the most.

As the CSU began to arrive in earnest to process the warehouse Captain Gates turned to her Detectives and said, "Why don't you stay here with CSU and see if you can help Sue Burlington, the Chief CSU Technician. Tell her Beckett and Castle are involved and she probably won't dismiss you out of hand. If the Chief comes down here to see for himself you will be able to tell him what happened."

"Yes Sir," they said together and moved off toward Sue.

"That's a good idea Captain, the Chief needs to see this for himself."Just as the Inspector said that, both Chiefs came into view.

**At the Hospital**

When Kate first entered the waiting room she was treated like a hero. The story had spread quickly of how Detective Beckett and her partner had responded to the call, captured the suspects, and kept the Officers alive until the EMTs had arrived. Their congratulations and expressions of thanks quickly died out when they saw the expression on her face.

"It's my partner, Castle," she said. "He got hit too. He's in surgery."

The senior LT of the 15th quickly guided Kate to a chair near the other wives and proceeded, with the other members of the 15th who were present to act as a most effective guard detail.

Waiting rooms are torture chambers for loved one and friends. No matter how hard the hospitals try, the chairs soon become uncomfortable, the clock moves too slowly and ticks too loud. The people sit in anticipation and dread of a Doctor appearing and the generally feeling of dread, loneliness and helplessness sets in.

'I am not alone,' thought Kate, 'Castle is with me.' 'Always' a small voice replied. Kate he is going to be fine. No harm, except a scare or two so relax, said a female voice. Kate? Yeah, got to go she said as the voice tailed away. 'Ok' thought Kate, 'if Castle is going to be ok I wonder if I can be a part of the investigation team. Surely something of this magnitude will be headed by a Captain at least probably a Inspector. But it's not a homicide so I'm probably out of luck. Still it would have been fun.'

After an eternity, "Mrs. Sato? A word please."

"Go ahead Doctor we are all family here."

"You sure?"

"Yes"

"Normally I wouldn't but since I consider this good news, your husband is going to be fine and have a full recovery."

With a sigh and then a shriek Mrs. Sato jumped to her feet, "When can I see him?"

"He's being brought down now. We are going to wake him up so that you can talk to him ok. We want him to know that he is going to be just fine and also to know that you are fine. Then we are going to put him back under. We want him to sleep through the worst of the pain. Later this afternoon he should wake up normally then we can go from there. You understand?"

"Wake to talk, and then back under to sleep through the pain, I understand. Full recovery?"

"Yes, hopefully there will not be any post operation issues."

"Thank you Doctor."

"You know the people who applied first aid in the field and kept him alive by performing CPR deserve most of the credit. Once we got him here, we knew we could save him. The pressure bandage was a work of art. I would like to meet the person who applied that."

"That would her husband I think. Where will my husband be?"

"Room four, go on down."

"Thank you again Doctor."

"Is your husband around," asked the Doctor as he turned to address Kate?

"He is in surgery, he got hit too."

"Oh, I'm sure he's going to be alright."

"I know he will be," affirmed Kate

A few minutes later another Doctor appeared, "Mrs. Garcia?"

"Yes Doctor. If you have news about my husband go ahead and say it as Sue said we are all family here."

With a nod the Doctor said, "I have some good news and even better news. Your husband is going to make it, and we are extremely confident that he will keep his leg and have a full and complete recovery. We are going to wake him up…"

"We heard the drill from the Doctor who treated Sue's husband. What room please?"

"Room one he should be there in a minute or two We are going to need to keep him for several days to be sure the graft holds, but after that he can be released and start rehab. As we said we expect a complete recovery."

"Thank you Doctor"

As several family members moved toward Room one and the guard detail dispersing, there services no longer, Kate found herself alone with the Doctor.

"I understand your husband tied the pressure bandage and rigged the tourniquet?" When Kate nodded he continued. "Where did he learn to do that? It was first rate. It both saved the leg and kept him alive."

"He's an author Doctor. I'm always amazed at the trivia that he knows. I'm just glad that he was able to put his knowledge into practice."

"I take it he is in surgery to?"

"Yes, he had a bleeder. He didn't even know he was hit. We saw the blood, and just assumed that it was from the other Officers. I never thought he got shot," replied Kate in a voice that wavered.

"Ah, here comes Doctor Simpson now, and he is smiling so I assume it will be good news."

"Mrs. Castle your husband is going to be fine. We got to him before he lost too much blood. I guess the combination of blood loss and adrenaline crash caused him to faint, which really was the best thing for him. Good job on the pressure bandage. We are going to bring him down to room five. You will be able to talk to him for several minutes, and then we will put him back under. He should wake up around five o'clock this afternoon. Unless something goes terribly wrong we will release him tomorrow afternoon."

"Thank you Doctor."

"Come on I'll walk you back. You really should get out of those bloody clothes. I'll have a nurse bring you some scrubs. This way when you go back to the station house to change into another outfit you won't scare people half to death."

Kate looked down at her outfit. It was a bloody mess and probably ruined. She could just imagine what type of image she projected. "You know that probably would be a good idea."

"Good, he should be here in a minute and then we will wake him up."

Kate watched as Rick was wheeled in, 'the person who invented movable beds sure made life easier for hospitals' thought Kate. It never ceased to amaze her as to how many pieces of electronics were arrayed around a typical patient's bed, and Castle's was no different. There has got to be at least ten pieces of equipment here. At last the flurry of activity died down and the nurse came in and injected something into Castle's IV. "He should wake up in a couple of minutes. When you leave we will put back to sleep. As the Doctor probably has already told you, he should wake up between five and six o'clock."

"Good," said Kate as she moved a chair closer to Castle's bed.

A minute later Dr. Simpson walked in. A minute later Rick woke up and slowly became coherent. The Doctor explained what they did and informed them that baring post op complications, Rick should be able to go home tomorrow afternoon, start rehab the next day and be completely recovered in two to four weeks.

After the Doctor left Kate said, "Hey Castle. Don't scare me like that."

"I didn't mean to," Castle said. "I didn't even know I was hit. What about the case?"

"It's not a homicide, so it will probably go to Major Crimes or Narcotics."

"This has the makings of a really great story. I mean how did they get all that stuff in there undetected. Was the place a distribution center, or strictly a warehouse? Who owned the place…"

"I know Castle I know. What are we going to tell your Mom and Alexis?" At the mention of their names Kate saw Castle winch.

"Tell them I'm ok. Look since I'm coming home tomorrow there is no need for them to come down here, ok. Don't bring James"

"I won't," confirmed Kate, "for the others, I'll try."

"And another thing no flowers. Anyone who sends me flowers will be banned from the Olde Haunt for life. If they want to send me something, make it a good scotch. That is probably the only way I can eat the hospital food. You remember don't you?"

In a flash Castle saw the expression on Kate's face change from that of a loving concerned life mate to….to something else.

Castle's words brought back harsh memories for Kate. She remembered all right. She remembered the betrayal and redemption by her mentor, the sting of the assassins' bullet, and the harshest memory of all of how she pushed the man who loved her unconditional away for three months.

"Hey," said Castle, "I'm sorry I should have known better."

"The past never leaves us does it?" Kate asked.

"No, but that's why need to make good memories so we can use them to combat the dark memories of the past, and we have made good memories haven't we?"

"Yes we have!" confirmed Kate. The smile once again on her face, "So how about takeout from Remey's for dinner.

"Great, Kate I'm going to need…"

"Clothes, I know and your shaving kit. I'll drop by the Loft pick them up and kiss James for you."

"I'm going to have to have a talk with him. He keeps stealing my wife's kisses."

"I have enough for both of you," smiled Kate. "And he won't steal this one," as Kate leaned in close. When they broke they noticed the nurse standing just outside the door with a huge grin on her face.

"These scrubs are for you Detective, and this bag is for your outfit. I don't know if you will be able to salvage it though. You can change in the bathroom here or the staff room. You don't need to return the scrubs. They won't be missed. Besides, they may help you slip past the reporters."

"What!" exclaimed the Castle's?

"What you guys did is on the news and security says they are looking for you."

"Kate can I uh borrow your backup piece?"

"No! Besides you are going to be sleeping soon. What kind of trouble can you get into if you can't answer their questions?" Castle normally handles reporters well, but there was the one time during their engagement where Kate almost killed him because of his answer to a reporter's question.

"I'll go change and be back around five-thirty ok love?"

"I'll be here," Castle responded resignedly.

When Kate emerged from the bathroom dressed in her scrubs, Castle was already asleep. "Rest Love I'll be back later," Kate said as she leaned in to kiss his cheek.

At the nurse's station Kate found the nurse who left the scrubs, "Look it's about Castle and the reporters…."

"If I need muscle to shoo them away I'll call the 15th." Seeing the look on Kate's face she continued, "Look Detective their LT was already down here and said to call them if we need to. He said it was the least he could do for you guys. My husband works at the 27th, the night nurse's husband works at the 15th. We know how to take care of our own."

"Good," Kate nodded, "Good."

Kate exited the patient area and found a quiet spot to make some phone calls, easy one's first she thought.

"HI Dad its Kate….You probably saw on the news that Castle got shot…it's nothing serious he will be home tomorrow…When you coming by for dinner on Sunday, James misses you? Good. Bye love you."

"LT its Detective Beckett. I've got a couple of things. First the guys from the 15th are going to make it. The Doctor says they should recover completely."

"Ok, what about Castle?"

"He is going to make it too. He will be released tomorrow."

"Good"

"He said no flowers, anyone who sends him flowers will be banned from the Olde Haunt for life."

Laughing the LT replied, "That's good to know. Detective they want you and Captain Gates downtown for a meeting. How soon do you think you can make it?"

"LT I'm a mess literally and figuratively. I need to shower and change. My clothes were so bad the hospital gave me scrubs to change into, and despite what the Doctor said I'm still worried about Castle." Kate looked at her watch and continued and said "Give an hour and a half."

"I'll tell them one-thirty. You need to eat lunch too. I'm sending a Blue and White for you. They will meet you at the Emergency Entrance."

"Thanks LT"

Now for the tough ones, "Martha,"

"I saw on the news. I knew you would call when you had news. How is he?"

"He is fine. He will be home tomorrow. He asked me to ask you not to come down to the hospital."

"In that I can respect his wishes," confirmed Martha.

Next the really tough one, "Alexis…"

"How is he?"

"Ok, a scare more than anything. He will be released tomorrow. He asked for you not to come."

"Not going to happen Kate. He's my Dad. I'm going to be there!"

"He's sleeping right now and the Doctor says he won't wake up till around five-thirty."

"Ok I'll be there around six."

"Ok, then could you please stop at Remey's and pick up dinner for the three of us. You know howq your Dad loves his cheeseburgers. I'll pay you back."

"You knew I would come didn't you?"

"You are your father's daughter. So I thought so. Yes," said Kate with a touch of amusement.

Laughing, "I'll do it only because you said please. See you then."

As Kate exited the Emergency Room she saw the press camped out in their normal location. She avoided them and headed toward the part of the parking lot where the police normally parked when coming to the hospital. She made it halfway before a sharp eyed reporter broke her disguise and ambushed her.

"Detective care to comment about what was found in the warehouse?"

"Sorry Holley I can't."

"What about the status of the Officers who were shot."

"Saying anything about that without the permission of the families is just plain rude Mel, and I'm not going to do it."

"What about Castle?"

"You got me there," smiled Kate, "I just left him. He's awake, active, and remembers everything. The Doctors said they plan on releasing him tomorrow."

"Will the injury affect his ability to write?"

"No absolutely not," said Kate. 'Rats,' thought Kate I probably should call Bob. I'll do that from the precinct house.'

"Rumor has it that you are going to lead the investigation. Care to comment?"

"Brenda your sources are obviously better than mine. I can say this; the case does not involve a homicide so I think the likelihood of me heading it is very slim."

"Care to comment on why you were the only unit to respond to the Code Nine call?"

"Mel, surely other units responded. Besides I was busy at the time and would not know."

"One of the persons captured was Sal Martinez. He is reputed to be the number one hitter for one of the Southern cartels. Do you know what he was doing in NYC?"

"Brenda, as I said your sources are better than mine. I wasn't aware that we had released the names of the suspects." Seeing a Blue and White enter the parking area and a familiar face sitting in the passenger seat, Officer Hastings Kate continued, "Look guys, my ride is here and obviously you know more than I do. So I suggest you try down at the plaza for more up to date information."

As Kate was scurrying toward the relative safety of the Police car she wondered 'why do all of the TV stations use women reporters and the written media use men? There is a story there somewhere I'll let Castle find it.'

"Thanks for the rescue guys. The media can be relentless at times."

"You were going to say something else weren't you Detective?"

"Yep, but I need to keep my job. If I stayed home all day with Castle I would certainly go crazy. You know I'm never felt so glad to be sitting in the back of a police car."

Laughing, "LT told us about Castle and the no flower edict. I was thinking about sending some in Hastings name just to see the look on her face when Castle bans her."

"Now wait a minute….."

"Talk about your unintended consequences," laughed Kate. "I wonder if it will happen."

"I think it already has," confided a laughing Hastings.

"I think I need to get to the hospital early and remove all of the name tags before he wakes up. That will be the only way to keep peace in the family."

The rest of the trip back to the house was spent talking why no one else responded to the Code Nine.

**Chapter 3 The reward for a job well done is….**

As Kate entered the station see graciously acknowledged all the comments she received about her 'uniform' as well as the well wishes for Castle. After a long shower and change of clothes Kate felt almost human again. She was sitting in the break area eating her soup when her interview replayed.

"You handled that well Detective," said Captain Gates.

"That was easy Sir because I don't know anything."

"How's Castle?"

"He really is ok Sir. I do expect to have him home tomorrow."

"Good, leave in five minutes?"

"Yes Sir"

When Kate and the Captain got off of the evaluator, Kate headed straight for the large conference but was pulled up short when Captain Gates said, "Chief of D's office." Entering the Chief's area they were directed to the small conference room that the Chief of Police and the Chief of Detectives shared. Entering the conference room they saw the Chief, Inspector Red O'Donnell, and two other plain clothes officers.

The Chief of Detectives rose and started the introductions. "Captain Gates, Detective Beckett you know Inspector Red O'Donnell who is the Commander of Special Projects of course, to his left is Sergeant Kim Jenkins, she is from Major Crimes. To her left is Sergeant Ted Johns. He is from Narcotics. Captain Gates is Commander of the 12th. This is Detective Beckett. She blew off a presentation to the Command Staff in order to respond to a Code Nine," the Chief said with a touch of admiration. "I hear you've had a busy day," he continued.

Kate remembered the late night cocoa, the shared shower, the confrontation in the warehouse, and the awful wait in the hospital. "Why do I have the feeling that it has just begun Sir?"

"Because it has," he said with a smile. "I understand that Castle is going to be ok, and if it wasn't for you two we would have lost two officers today."

"The first aid was mostly him Sir; I had to keep an eye on the suspects."

"Right, Detective Beckett effectively immediately you and your Team are being transferred to Special Projects. Your task is to find out everything you can about that damn warehouse. Are there any more etc. You will still work out of the 12th under the Captain," he said with a nod toward Captain Gates, "but you will keep Red informed of your progress and resource needs. Kim will be your liaison with Major Crimes and Ted with Narcotics. The biggest change here is accounting. Your hours will come out of my budget not the Captain's. I'm stealing her people, it didn't seem fair that I steal her money," he continued with a smile. "I'm sure you have questions so fire away."

"Why us Sir, instead of Major Crimes or Narcotics?"

"I want to keep it under wraps for a little while. The size of the operation is unbelievable and the implications immense. Your Team is already involved so using you does not impose any security risks. Also Major Crimes is tapped resource wise. They have two major operations going and it took a direct order to get Kim here. Narcotics is even worse shape. I am going to be honest here. There are some people suspecting that size and scope of this thing suggests that Major Crimes and Narcotics are both compromised. I don't believe it, but I need to pay attention to it. I know you guys are Homicide Detectives, but you have handled assignments like this in the past and I confident that you can handle this one."

"Then I guess we better get started."

"How can we help," asked Kim.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that place must have been generated a huge amount of cash. Where did it go? Any help you can give us in tracking cash deposits would be great."

"I'm sure they kept them under the automatic scrutiny limit," said Kim, "but they would have to make a lot of them. We can take a look."

"Ted, what has happened to the price of the drugs on the street? With that much product off the market the price has to skyrocket."

"That is one of my worries," said Captain Gates, "that the increase in price will cause a crime spree."

"I agree," said Ted, "but the funny thing is the price has not gone up yet, at least as far as we can tell."

"That would suggest that there is another major distribution center out there Detective," said the Chief. "Find it."

"Yes Sir."

"Detective," said Red whose nickname was obviously the result of his red hair, "I'm going to have to insist that you leave Castle on the bench for this one."

"May I ask why Sir?"

"He is a civilian."

"Yes Sir he is. I don't see how that has anything to do with it."

"I can't prevent him from popping off to the press."

"You don't have to worry about that Sir because he won't leak case materials to the press. In all the years that he has shadowed me, he has never once leaked anything. In fact when the press asks him questions he turns it into a book promotion interview. I originally thought he was being egotistical, and then I realized that, that was his way of deflecting the question."

"Some people will do anything for a moment of fame or money."

"True," agreed Kate. "But Castle is already a famous author. On average he turns down three-to-four speaking engagements each month. If he wants to be on TV he calls his agent and it happens, and they are glad to have him. As for the money angle, I will agree that there is always 'the more is better' mentality. I have seen our finances. If neither one of us worked we could maintain our life-style and not eat into the principle. "

"Still Detective I must insist is that clear."

"Yes Sir"

"Captain Gates," said the Chief, "you will see that the Detective gets all the resources she needs both from within and without the NYPD."

"Yes Chief," she replied. To her the subtext was clear. He wanted Castle on the case but did not want to contradict Red in public.

"If that's all then I best tell my Team we've been drafted and get started."

"Captain, Red please stay a minute please."

"That was a good idea about the cash," said Kim."If it's there we should be able to find it,"

"And you're right about the street prices; they should have gone sky high, but they haven't. I'll let you know if that changes."

"Anything else you need Detective Beckett," asked Kim.

"Give me a moment. Right know I don't know what I don't know. I'm going to change that. When I need something I'll let you know what and why, ok."

"Sounds good," said Ted.

"Yes," said Kim.

As they were leaving Kate pulled out her phone, "Esposito, where are you guys?"

"Still at the warehouse with CSU. You are not going to believe what they have found."

"Is Ryan nearby?"

"Yeah, his talking with Sue."

"Can you put me on speaker so that both Sue and Kevin can hear?"

"Wait one,…Go ahead."

"Guys this is our case."

"What do you mean our case," asked Ryan.

"I mean we get to find out how this stuff got here, where it was going, how this place operated, and more importantly how do we recognize other places like this."

"Wow," said Esposito.

"Sue…,"

"I know Detective you want everything by COB. Your watch dogs know what I know right now so that will get you started in the right direction. It's just there is so much stuff here that it's going to take several days to work through it."

"Ok, I understand. As long as we have material to work from I can wait for finals. You heard what we have been tasked to do so if your people find anything give us a yell."

"Will do."

"I'm sure as we work through the stuff we may ask for some more targeted digging. "

"That I understand. Detective I do think this is the largest drug bust in history. Good job."

"The credit belongs to Officers Sato and Garcia. They are the ones who followed the suspects here. No one should forget that. Can you guys head back to the house so we start a planning session?"

"Sure," said Ryan."  
"I'll be glad to get them off my back," added Sue with a hint of a laugh.

"See you there."

As Kate was waiting for the Captain she strolled around and reconnected with the friends she had made while she was stationed here during her pregnancy assignment. After several minutes she saw Captain Gates emerge from the Chief's area.

"Ready to go Detective?"

"Yes Sir, I've got Ryan and Esposito returning to the precinct so we can start a planning session."

"Good, and you bring Castle in anytime you think he is physically capable."

"But the Inspector…"

"Got overruled by the Chief. You know in principle I agree with everything the Inspector said, but Castle has never given me a reason to doubt his honesty, integrity, or loyalty and he has never compromised a case. Sometimes he is even helpful."

"Am I going to have a problem with the Inspector?"

"Probably. At least until you start showing progress."

"That could take awhile."

"I know."

**At the 12****th**

By the time The Captain and Kate returned to the 12th the Boys had almost completed filling out the white board with what they had gleaned from the crime scene and a suggested task list. First Kate brought her Team up to speed on their assignment, their administrative transfer, the Command structure, and their points of contact in Major Crimes and Narcotics. Next she described the tasks she had given Kim and Ted, and the fact that prices had not exploded.

The Boys briefed that the warehouse had a first rate security but no cameras. "It's like they knew that video surveillance would be used against them so they left it out," said Esposito.

"I'm sure I saw cameras and camera monitoring positions," replied Kate.

"You did, but they were all fakes," continued Esposito.

"Also the number that the alarm reported out to is no longer in service," add Ryan. "It was probably a burner phone that they just ditched when they knew the building was comprised. It is on our things to check."

"We saw a lot of boxes and crates and bills of lading. It's like they were using the commercial carriers to move the drugs for them," said Esposito.

"We also saw UPS, and FEDEX, forms and boxes, plus a lot of U.S. Postal shipping boxes," added Ryan. "It almost looks like they were also providing a mail order service. Again this is on things to look into. Are we going to get any help?"

"I don't know, right now let's just get the things down that we need to do then we ask. Anything else?"

"There was cash there; I mean a lot of cash there. They had it in boxes. It looked like they were shipping the cash out," said Esposito.

"So the transportation angle is something we need to concentrate on. Where there any office spaces?"

"On the second floor," said Ryan. "Docking stations for laptops, chargers for cell phones and some file cabinets containing the shipping forms. CSU hit the place for prints. They weren't optimistic."

"And a shredder," added Esposito.

"More like a pulverizer," said Ryan. "You put a piece of paper in and dust comes out. There is no way to recover any of the things that were shredded."

"You said they had a lot of cash there. How much?"

"Sue said she had over a thousand pounds of cash."

"If each bill is a twenty that means there is roughly nine million dollars there," said Ryan.

"That qualifies as a lot of cash. Opinions?"

"This is a highly professional, disciplined organization that is making a ton on money. Well half a ton at least, "said Esposito with a grin. "They didn't leave us any freebies. The only two angles I see to work are transportation and maybe the building ownership route. But I think they would have covered their tracks there too."

"What about cell phones," asked Ryan? "We know they used their cells there perhaps we can get some help from that direction."

"OK Ryan you start down the building ownership path. I expect you hit a dead end, but it's a path we need to follow. Also try the phone path. Espo identify the shipping companies involved. Tomorrow we start taking with them."

"You OK Kate," asked Esposito. He had noticed that although the discussion she was becoming more and more nervous and constantly looking at Castle's chair.

"It's Castle, I want to be there when he wakes up, and I need to stop by the Loft first."

"Then go," said Captain Gates who had taken her normal listening position. "Esposito and Ryan can start and you can pick it up tomorrow. You've had a full day already."

As they watched Kate hurry towards the elevator Esposito remarked, "She will be alright once she is completely convinced Castle will be OK."

"Then she will be pissed at the people who hurt him," added Ryan.

"I know," said Esposito with a grin. "And we get to be with her every step of the way as we nail the suckers." After they shared a fist bump they looked back apologetically at the Captain.

'Yes,' Captain Gates thought as she shook her head, turned away and walked back toward her office suppressing a grin, 'I have the best squad of Detectives in the NYPD.'

**Chapter 4 Caught in the Act**

Kate rushed home, packed an overnight bag for Castle, kissed her son, and arranged a baby sitter for James and hurried to the hospital. Rushing into Castle's hospital room she discovered two people, neither one of them dressed like a nurse or a doctor. In fact they looked like reporters. The female looked like she was messing with one of the machines, and the other one was snapping away with a camera.

"Hey," Kate shouted, "What are you doing? Get away from there!"

"Who are you? We are authorized to be here."

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett and I said move away from Castle now!" said Kate in her best command voice. "Nurse!" yelled Kate.

"We are authorized to be here I tell you," said the female suspect.

Kate opened her coat reveling her badge and the grip of her weapon, "I said move it. Who authorized you to be here? He certainly didn't."

"Listen bitch we are reporters and his wife authorized us to conduct the interview, so buzz off. We are leaving."

At that moment Nurse Haines burst into the room, "Detective what's the matter? Where did those two come from?"

"Nurse I saw her over near the equipment could you check the setting please?"

After a moment the nurse looked at the pair of people in the then back at Beckett. "Detective the settings have been changed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Change them back please. You two put your hands behind your heads. You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Richard Castle."

As the female started toward the door, Kate drew her weapon and pointed it at her head. "Stop, I'm Detective Beckett of the NYPD. You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Richard Castle. Put your hands behind your head. ….I would like it so very much if you resisted arrest. You see Richard Castle is my husband and I gave no one permission to conduct an interview."

"Oh My God," wailed the male cameraman with a touch of respect and awe, "It's Nikki frigging Heat."

"I want a lawyer," the other one yelled.

"Nurse please have security come down and take charge of the prisoners while I call for transport."

"Yes Detective."

"LT its Detective Beckett I am in Castle's room at the hospital. I have arrested two people for the attempted murder Castle. I need someone to take our statements and transport the suspects. ….LT I wish I was kidding."

Moments later, "Esposito, Ryan," said Captain Gates, "Detective Beckett has just arrested two people for the attempted murder of Castle. She is in his room at the hospital. Go get their statements."

"Yes Sir," they acknowledged. They left so fast that if it had been a cartoon, their shadows would have still been in their chairs.

By the time the Boys arrived at the hospital there were three Blue and White Teams and ADAs Reynolds and Kane waiting for them. "We were in the neighborhood," offered Officer Johnson, Officer Hastings partner. "And thought we could help."

The ADA's listened carefully as the Detectives took the statements. "Book them and then take them directly to arraignment. Their lawyers can meet them there," said ADA Reynolds.

**At Arraignment Court**

"What do the People have next Miss Kane," asked Judge Freestone.

"We have an attempted murder charge your Honor, Todd Hawks and Marcia Brown allegedly attempted to kill Mr. Richard E. Castle in his hospital bed."

"We were there, but we didn't try to kill him," blurted the female defendant.

"The arresting officer discovered them in Mr. Castle's hospital room with Miss Brown near the IV dispensing apparatus. They claimed they were there for an interview and had Mrs. Castle's permission to do so. The arresting officer summoned the nurse who confirmed the settings had been changed. That's when the arresting officer placed them in custody your Honor."

"And for the record, who was the arresting officer?"

"Detective Kate Beckett, aka Kate Castle."

"You mean that bitch was really his wife?"

"Counselor control your client."

"Yes Your Honor."

"Ok, how do you plead?"

"We were only there for an interview."

"I'll take that as a 'Not Guilty.'"

"Yes your Honor," said the defense attorney.

"How are the People on bail?"

"Originally my boss wanted to offer Miss Brown and Mr. Hawks the opportunity to witness firsthand what it is like to be a prisoner at Rickers, that way they could have an exclusive…"

"Your Honor," protested the defense attorney.

"Easy counselor, I don't think the People were finished."

"…but he an attack of Ethics and suggested $50,000."

"While I like his first idea, I must agree with the second. Counselor?"

"No objection your Honor"

"Bail is set at $50,000. Next case.

**Next day at the ADA's Office**

"Come on Tim," said the lawyer for the two reporters, "You know you can't get a conviction on the attempted murder charge, let's dismiss and be done with it."

"Roy I like my hand."

"Are you kidding me? Please, you can do better than that."

"We will start with why Castle was in the hospital in the first place and why they wanted the interview," said ADA Reynolds.

"You know, single handedly taking down a high profile shooter from one of the cartels, then persuading the other two to surrender," said ADA Kane.

"Then will talk about him savings the lives of two NYPD Officers, while he was bleeding out. You know real hero stuff," continued ADA Reynolds. "Then with him in the courtroom with his year old son in his arms we will have his wife, Sergeant Kate Beckett testify that she found your clients in his room," as he laid down a picture of Miss Brown near the equipment. "That your clients fingerprints were on the machine, and that the settings were changed," he finished by laying down the print match statement from CSU and the affidavit from the nurse.

"There were there to get an interview. What's their motive?"

"The interview," replied ADA Kane immediately. "When they got there Castle was still out. They changed the settings in the hope that that would bring Castle out of it. They did not know what they were doing and with no regard for Castle's condition. That constitutes depraved indifference, and that will get us the conviction, and with the new stalker law…" ADA Kane hinted. "Bottom line is your client's endangered his life to get an interview. It won't take much to convince the jury to envision Rick dead and Kate a widow with a young son to take care of."

"As I said Roy I like my hand."

"You can't prove that the change in setting would have killed Castle," replied Roy.

"Perhaps I won't have to."

After a long moment of contemplation, "How about we plead to reckless endangerment with a sentence recommendation?"

"I can accept that."

**Chapter 5 The Family that Dines Together …**

**Previous Day Back at the Hospital **

After hospital Security had taken the two prisoners off of her hands, Kate sat in the hospital room frantic with worry. Had she come too late? After what seemed like an eternity, one of Dr. Simpson's interns showed up. She listened to the nurse's description of the events, and then told Kate that Castle would be fine. No damage occurred and the only effect would be that Castle would sleep a little longer than planned. Kate felt a weight lift from her chest, and when the nurse handed her a cup of coffee, she thought she might yet survive the day. Kate was concerned when Castle slept through Kate's interview with the Boys and the print team lifting prints from the machines the reporter had touched.

Taking a deep breath, Kate put those concerns settled into the chair beside Castle's bed, pulled out her Tablet and starting making notes and plans for their case. As hard as Kate tried to concentrate her mind kept coming back to the two men in her live Castle and James. Thinking of James she wrote:

**James**

Your life just begun

You fill our lives with much joy

We love you so much

Not bad she thought. I've give this to Castle for his book. Her mind a little more at ease she turned her attention back to the case. Eventually she heard Castle's breathing change and lighten. Many times she had lain by his side as he transitioned from asleep to awake, and now he was waking up again. Stowing her Tablet, she gently grabbed his hand and waited. Eventually he opened his eyes and his head turned in her direction. "Hey," he said.

"Hey Castle," Kate replied softly, "how was your day."

"Pretty good so far, I got to fool around with my wife in the shower, and then I got to play cops and robbers. Now I wake up and I'm greeted by an angle. How was yours?"

"The morning was fantastic. Then it became pretty routine, almost boring actually, until I had to chase a female reporter out of husband's hospital room, oh and I got assigned one monster of a case."

"Was the reporter pretty? Do you think she peeked?"

"Castle…"

"We got the case?"

"Yeah, we can talk later. I'm supposed to get the nurse when you wake up."

When the nurse, Doctor Simpson, his intern, and the Physical Therapist came in, Kate faded into the background, still making sure that she could hear and see everything that was going on. Kate was heartened when she saw that Castle's injury was low on his left thigh. She was further encouraged when they changed the bandage and found very little spotting, and she was absolutely delighted, that pending the outcome of one blood test, which they expected to be negative, Castle would be released early tomorrow morning. When the doctors left and the Physical Therapist started talking about rehab, Kate jumped in. "I'm going to be managing his rehab so talk to me."

"Keep it light for the first week, stretches and walking. After that, build slowly for a week. At the start of the third week you should be able to do your normal routine. Keep monitoring the wound site for changes of course, but you should be good to go."

For the next several moments they held hands in silence just revealing in the fact that they had survived a scare. "This wasn't the warehouse," remarked Castle.

"I know," replied Kate, "but we know that one is coming up and we can handle it."

"Hey guys," said Alexis as she burst into the room wearing her backpack and bringing in dinner.

"Alexis what are you doing here?"

"Bringing dinner of course," she said as she held up the bags. "Gee Kate; I thought you said that he was going to be ok. It looks like his powers of observation have declined."

"Kate I thought I asked you…"

Putting a finger to her husband's lips, "Alexis is her father's daughter," interrupted Kate with a laugh." Which means, she has this thing about authority, she has a rebellious streak a mile wide, doesn't like to be told what she can't do, and besides she loves you so very much there was no way she was going to stay away, so I asked her to bring dinner. Deal with it Castle," said Kate with a smile.

"It's ok Dad I understand. You don't want me to see you in a hospital bed. I understand. Kate said that this isn't serious and you will be out tomorrow so don't worry about it. You don't want your double-bacon cheeseburger to get cold do you?"

Over supper father, daughter, and mom caught up. Just as the conversation was winding down Martha entered the room with James and walked toward her family.

"Martha," exclaimed Kate, "I thought you said you weren't coming."

"I said I respected Richard's wishes dear. I didn't say anything about abiding to them. I know how much Richard hates hospital food, so I stopped and got Chinese and besides James was lonely. I see," said Martha as she saw the debris from Remey's "that someone obviously double booked dinner. "

At the sound of his Mother's voice James reached out his hands for Kate. "There's my guy," crooned Kate as she took him from Martha's grasp.

"Ah the kiss stealer himself," joked Castle. With that James proceeded to dump long, loudly, and smelly into his diaper.

"I guess he doesn't like to be called a kiss-stealer," said Alexis as she, Marta, Kate and Rick all started to laugh.

Esposito and Ryan entered the hospital room to the sounds of laughter, and the smells of burgers, fries and Chinese food, and the sight of Kate changing a diaper.

"We came to cheer you up," said Ryan. "We didn't know you would be throwing a party."

"Come in boys, come in," said Martha. "Javier, Kevin are you hungry? I have Mongolian Beef and Orange Chicken here. It seems that someone double booked dinner."

"Thanks Mrs. R", said Esposito "that would be nice." As the Detectives were eating Esposito observed "Castle I didn't think anyone would have the guts to send you flowers."

'Oh crap,' thought Kate as she reached out and slapped Castle's hand away from the greeting card in the flowers. 'In all of the excitement, I forgot to pull them' she thought.

"Castle I have it on the highest authority that some our colleagues were going to send flowers in other people's names just for the fun of seeing you and make the named person squirm."

"You do? That's sneaky. I like it, but I've got to know which ones are real."

"I'll let you know, ok?"

They watched as Kate pulled the cards. Some she put in her pocket, others she kept in her hand. "This one is from the Mayor; I meant to call him from the precinct house."

"You should have Kate, but I understand you had other things on your mind. Good evening ladies, Detectives. Are those won-tons and spring roils from the Golden Dragon I smell?" asked the Mayor.

"Yes, they are Robert," answered Martha, "Come help yourself."

Between bites the Mayor explained he was worried when Castle was late and deeply concerned when he learned that Kate had been the only one to respond to the Code Nine call.

"You guys did a good job in saving the other Officers lives, I was just with them and they were very appreciative. And now I understand you got the case."

"Did you have anything to do with that Sir?" asked Kate.

"No, but I'm glad they selected you. Why you sound concerned."

"It's just that it's big. Federal Task Force big."

"Well I think the Fed's will show up tomorrow. I trust you all will play nice."

The silence in the room was deafening. "We will try Sir," said Kate with a grim expression on her face.

"Look I know you have had trouble in the past. Get over it. There are good indications that there is another major distribution center in operation in NYC. I want it found and put out of business right now understand. We can work up the food chain a little bit later. If we can find and eliminate another distribution center of this size, that should put a big hole in the drug dealers pockets, as well as get the drugs off of the street. Is that understood?"

"It sounds like you've given this speech before Bob," said Castle in a calm voice.

The Mayor looked around at his audience. Took a deep breath and let it out. "Sorry guys, you know how I feel." They all knew. As far as campaign promises went, getting drugs off of the streets wasn't one the Mayor had not been particularly successful at. "It's just that I see this as a great opportunity."

"We all want the center found and taken down Sir," said Kate. "We will do our best to make it happen."

"I know. Any theories?"

"My first thought," said Castle "was that the warehouse was set up by one of the agencies. They were storing the drugs that obtained from selling guns to various indigenous groups. It works except I can't explain the presence of the cartel shooter, unless of course we are the cartel. You know that's not a bad twist."

Laughing Kate said with a huge smile, "Never ask an author for a theory because he will give you one. As Detective Esposito said earlier today this is a highly professional, disciplined organization that is making a ton on money. We found this center by luck. We will take it apart. Learn how to recognize it. Then we will find the others Sir."

"Good," said the Mayor, "Good. Well then speedy recovery Rick and good hunting Detectives. Martha it's been a treat as always. Alexis a pleasure to meet you again. Good night all."

"The first thing we need to do tomorrow is…."

Kate was interrupted as Alexis got up clapped her hands and held them out to James. "You know little bro, I think it's time to head home. The Detectives are going to talk about the case. I know you are dying to help, but not being able to talk will cramp your style. Pretty soon you will be able to talk and give them advice, and from my experience they need it. What do you say? I know its bath night. While Grand gets the bath ready we can play a bit. After the bath we will get you into some clean pajamas, and get you something to eat. Afterwards you can stay up and listen to music with me as I do my homework. At least until Mom comes home. Deal?"

With that James seemed to push off from Kate and leap toward Alexis. "Stinker," said Kate as she bent forward and kissed her son. "I'll remember this," she laughed.

After Alexis and Martha had said their goodbyes, the Team settled down and started to plan for tomorrow. It wasn't long before Castle started to fade. The Boys seeing this quickly ended the conversation and headed home. As Kate tried to tiptoe out she heard Castle say, "Not so fast young lady."

Retracing her steps she gave Castle a kiss he would not soon forget. "That should hold you over till tomorrow night," she said. "Call me when you get home, ok love?"

"Be extra careful," replied Castle with a touch of anxiety in his voice.

"I will," Kate promised. On her way out she encountered Dr. Stanton, Dr. Simpson's intern.

"Dr. Stanton did you assist Dr. Simpson in surgery on my husband."

"Yes ma'am. It was a very simple procedure. Your husband should do fine."

"When the nurse changed the bandage, I noticed that the wound was small. I was wondering what caused it."

"It was very small. It only took three stitches to close. That is one of the reasons why he should recover quickly."

"What caused it?"

"I believe it was a shotgun pellet…. You OK Detective?"

'Shotgun pellet,' gasped Kate. 'I did this to Castle?' "Just a long day Doctor. Just a long day."

"The rumor mill has is that this was the largest drug bust ever, and more importantly the first aid you guys gave was first rate and saved lives."

"Mostly Castle," responded a distracted Kate.

"Nonsense," said the Doctor. "I saw the pressure bandage you put on your husband. It was excellent. The EMT's just wrapped over it. It helped stop the bleeding and prevented further damage."

"Thanks Doctor," said Kate with a sad smile as she turned to go.

"What's wrong with her?" asked the nurse.

"Long day," replied the Doctor. "Funny thing though. We I told her that her husband's wound was caused by a shotgun pellet she went pale."

"Oh my," said the nurse whose husband served at the 15th, "Oh my."

When Kate arrived at the Loft Alexis was putting James toys back into his playpen and Martha was just sitting down to feed James. "I can take him Martha," said Kate.

"I've got him Katherine. Let me feed my grandson. You can sit and watch this time….What's wrong?"

"Is my Dad ok," chimed in Alexis.

"Rick's fine. I'm the one with the problem. Before I left the hospital I found out that a shotgun pellet was the cause of the wound. Since I was the only one shooting a shotgun…"

"What happens now?" asked Alexis.

"There will be a police review of course. Nothing should come of it. The pellet hitting Castle was a zillion to one shot. I'm more worried about what Castel thinks."

"Don't be silly dear," said Martha.

"Grand's right," agreed Alexis. "If you think this changes anything between you two you are wrong."

"But I…"

"You are overanalyzing it," continued Alexis in the rushed voice which seems to be a characteristic of the Castles when they get excited, "Dad loves you and he knows it was a zillion to one shot….So how are you going to tell him?"

"On the phone as soon as he calls to tell me he is home?" ventured Kate.

"Wrong answer," said Alexis.

"How about when I get home tomorrow, before dinner?"

"Much better, Oh by the way I'm going to need food money and cab fare. I had to make an emergency run to the hospital," Alexis said with a small smile. "Hot chocolate?"

For the rest of the night James was the center of attention for three lovely ladies.

**Chapter 6 The Hunt Begins**

**At the 12****th**

The problem that Kate and her Team had was where to begin. With only the three of them, they had to choose their starting point carefully. If this morning's newspaper and radio talk shows were any indication, the people were incensed that something of this size could be put in place without the NYPD knowing about it.

As Kate was contemplating the murder board, her mind was really on the fact that she shot Castle and the consequences of the act. Not just with Castle but with this investigation. She was so engrossed with her thoughts that she did not notice her Team assemble for their morning session, or Captain Gates assume her normally monitoring position.

"A penny for your thoughts Detective," said Captain Gates.  
"Captain I need to speak with you," looking around Kate spotted the rest of the Team, "well the rest of you need to know this too. Before I left the hospital last night I discovered that cause of Castle's wound was a shotgun pellet."

"And since you were the only one caring a shotgun…."

"Yes," nodded Kate.

"Detective if you think I am putting you on Administrative Leave until after the hearing when you have a case to solve, personally assigned by the Chief of Detectives, you are nuts. I'll clear it with the Chief. If anybody knows you they would know the last person you would be careless around is Castle, and considering the warehouse I can't see how it occurred. …. Carry on."

"When are you going to tell him," asked Ryan.

"I was going to tell him when he called to tell me he was home, but Alexis talked me out of it."

"At least one member of the family has some common sense," said Captain Gates.

"She must have got it from Martha," quipped Esposito.

When the Team saw the hint of a smile on Kate's face they knew she had rejoined the hunt for the bad guys, and their days were numbered.

"OK, said Kate pointing to the first bullet on the board, "where are we on the people?"

"The shooters have all lawyered up," said Ryan. "The ADA thinks that maybe Ramon, the youngest one of the group, is turn able and is working on it. I don't think he has much of a chance. The ADA said he has had inquires from seven states about extraditing Sal Martinez. The Attorney General of Texas was most insistent."

"What's going to happen?"

"ADA Reynolds wants to go to trial here, get the conviction, and then release him for extradition."

"Speaking of ADA's" said the Captain, "ADAs Tim Reynolds and Debora Kane are your dedicated support for this investigation."

"CSU find anything useful at the shooters apartment?"

"Nothing so far. The clothes are all new, with American labels. No papers or pictures. None of the apartments contained anything personal."

"What about the apartment itself?"

"Corporate apartments, this is month nine on a three year lease. Everything is furnished. The leaser is the same company who leased the warehouse," said Detective Ryan with a nod toward Esposito.

"So they been here a while. Did the company lease any other apartments here?" asked the Captain.

"No Sir," replied Ryan. "We are checking other real estate companies that specializing in corporate housing."

With a nod Kate waited a moment for Kevin to continue then pointed to the next bullet "Ownership."

"The building is owned by one of the real estate firms that owns about a zillion warehouses. This one is leased to Dragon Toys Limited, LCC. They were incorporated off shore and that is as far as I got. The firm is messaging over a copy of the lease. A lawyer, Kevin McIntire, signed for the company. I've started a background check on him."

"Ok we are going to need some help here."

Pointing to the next bullet, "Communications?"

"Finding the cell phones in the warehouse was both good and bad. Good in that Tech is going through and collecting all of the phone logs. They worked overnight and given us a list of numbers. I've contacted all of the carriers and they have agreed to give us all of the cell data for calls originating or terminating in the warehouse. It should be here around noon. Frankly I don't know how bad a data analysis problem we have. I am assuming it will be large, and each entry is important. The bad point is if all of the cell phones used in the warehouse are here then the opportunity for them using them elsewhere is slim."

"Ok we are going to need help here, also."

"Any chance of our liaison's providing some help?" asked Ryan.

"I'll ask, but I got a funny feeling about this."

Picking up a marker Kate went to the murder board and under 'Transportation' she wrote shipping, and receiving.

"I think we should break this problem into two areas of investigation. The first one is how did they get the stuff in. The second is how they got the stuff out. We saw that that they had a small processing facility, if we use one of Castle's theories from last night, that this place was both a retail and a wholesale distribution center, then…"

"They were taking a piece of the shipments cutting it for the 'special clients' who were willing to pay for home delivery and using FEDEX, UPS, USPS, or local massagers to deliver," said Esposito.

"The delivery supplies, right" added Ryan.

"So let's ask those delivery services for their pickups and deliveries from this address."

"Where are you going with this Detective? I know that you are compiling a list of potential drug users, but what else?" asked Captain Gates.

"If this source is cut off, then their supplier will have to ship from another location,…"

"Which would be the location of another center. Nice Detective."

"Which still leaves us the problem of how they got the stuff into the warehouse in the first place," continued Kate.

"That is a one-way street and there is a traffic camera right there. I've ordered three months' worth of footage, but we still don't know what we are looking for," said Esposito.

"They had a loading dock, and the equipment to move pallets, let's assume that they used it."

"The space for the truck was limited," remarked Ryan.

"But big enough to handle the city delivery style trucks, yes?"

"Yes," agreed Ryan. "You think they are using commercial delivery services?"

"Why not? It's safe, reliable and very easy to cut your losses if a shipment is compromised. Ok it looks like we are in a bi wait mode. Let's split up and contact the specialty delivery services and ask them for their pickups and delivers from this site. After that we cue up the video and look for city delivery size trucks, and note their company names. Later we will run them down."

The Detectives were in the video review area when they heard a knock on the door, "Detectives, it appears we have visitors. The Captain wants you in the large conference room."

Entering the Conference Room they saw the Captain sitting with two people. 'Feds they all thought at once.' "Detectives, I will let you introduce yourselves. This is Special Agent Ty Crocket from the FBI and Mary Woods. She is a lawyer from DOJ."

Ty Crocket was six-two two-hundred twenty pounds and looked like he could play linebacker for any professional football team. His slightly gray hair did not hide his physical presence or energy and his slate gray eyes did not seem to miss a thing. His grip was firm and practiced, and his "pleased to me you" was definitely from Texas. This impression was augmented by his bolo tie and square toed boots that did not seem to class with his dark blue business suit.

At five foot even in heals, and maybe a hundred pounds, Mary Woods looked like the exact opposite. It appeared she could be blow over by a strong breeze. However, she moved with the strength and grace of someone who had spent a lot of time in martial arts, Aikido, thought Esposito. She was dressed in a light gray jacket and trousers and a cream colored blouse. Her mid-length auburn hair perfectly framed her pert face, and like Ty, her green eyes darted everywhere. Her accent definitely was New England. 'Just what I need, a Red Sox fan,' thought Kate.

After the Detectives had introduced themselves and had taken seats, Special Agent Crocket began. "Before we officially start," Ty said with a look at Mary, "I need to say a few things." Turning back to face Kate he said, " The Deputy Director sends his greetings and said you were the best agent he ever had to fire. He tried to keep you, but lost the battle. In hindsight he said it was probably for the best. Considering your fiancée was going to relocate to Washington, and considering his tendency to …"

"Help," offered Kate with a hint of simile.

"…help." Repeated Ty. "You guys would probably have found yourself in seriously deep, deep hot water."

At the mention of Castle's almost relocation, Kevin and Javier exchanged glances and looked at Kate. Neither one of them knew they were that close to losing another friend.

"I've also been told that this Team is better than most teams in the Bureau and if I treated you badly, I would either be steamrolled or outflanked and I would not see it coming. I'm not going to let that happen because I have no intention of taking this case away from this Team. In fact Mary and I both feel that even thought this case may have national implications the best way to approach it is let your Team handle all of the details inside NYC and support you with resources and expertise we have and use Bureau or Department resources for chasing down things that are outside of the Five Boroughs."

"Captain," said Ty turning his attention to Captain Gates, "I would like to have space for three people here if I could. I am leaving the rest of my Team at the NY field office. I'm going to ask that you let the three of us have access to your NYPD network, and we in turn will make sure that all of the products of our investigation will be placed in your Team's case file folder. I want to keep the physical footprint small, and make the information exchange as seamless as possible."

"That can be arranged," said the Captain.

Nodding Special Agent Crocket continued, "I understand Mr. Castle was injured in the warehouse. I trust his injuries were not severe. I would be interested in hearing his theories."

"He is scheduled to be released early this afternoon and should be joining us tomorrow." Reacting to Captain Gates upturned eyebrow Kate continued. "Sir, he will not be on any medication, and his rehab plan is simple, stretch to minimize the creation of scar tissue, walk to maintain cardio, and avoid overly violent movements."

"After this we need to talk," said Captain Gates.

"Yes Sir,…As far as Castle's first theory goes it's a conspiracy of course. He thinks that one of the government agencies is accepting drugs for armaments, and this is where they are being stored because they are a world currency. He thinks this operation cuts out two layers of bad guys, the gun runners and the drug lords. He also joked that this helped with the 'Buy American' campaign."

As Kate was retelling Castle's theory she noted the glances that Ty and Mary were sharing. "Please don't tell me Castle's right in this, "pleaded Kate.

"I'm lot at liberty to comment Detective," said Special Agent Crocket "I will say that nothing like that is happening here."

"That we know of," corrected Mary Woods. "That we know of."

"His second theory is that this is a combination mail order –special delivery processing center and a major warehouse for distribution to local factory's and retail centers. They appear to be well financed, well organized, and extremely disciplined. If the boxes of money CSU confiscated is any indication, extremely profitable."

Kate watched the Special Agent and the Counselor exchange meaningful glances. After a moment of awkward silence, Kate continued. "Special Agent Crocket, what is yours and Counselor Woods's story? Ours is simple, we got drafted. Yours,… seems different."

"Right, I'm stationed out of Dallas, and over the last several months I've seen the smaller drug suppliers squeezed out. I've postulated the existence of distribution networks like this, with home delivery and so on. One of the elements we have seen in Dallas is lunch wagons driving to locations and selling drugs like hot dogs. We have not seen it here so far here, perhaps we could look harder. Once we see how this one is structured, how it is supported and so on I hope to build and recognize the pattern. Then apply that pattern to the activity in Dallas with the hope of taking them out, refining the recognition process and moving on to the next city. This is a huge investment. I do not think they can walk away from it easily. As a fall out I hope to discover their transportation network, and exactly where they are moving all of the money to and what they are using it for. That's why I asked Mary to help us. "

"My brother died from an overdose Detective," said Mary Woods, "and I don't want anyone else to have to go through that."

"OK," said Detective Beckett "we normally try to do two informal stand-up meetings. One in the morning to share overnight results and to parse tasking, and the other one around close of shift to be sure everyone is up to speed. We don't wait to push results. We just try to make sure we are together at these times to be sure ever one remains in synch. Esposito, why don't you start the recap?"

At the mentioned of the LLC Mary Woods spoke up "I can handle that Detective. I'll handle the lawyer too. I'll have his stuff by noon tomorrow, the company contacts maybe a little longer."

At the mention of the phone data Special Agent Crocket spoke up, "Let us analyze that Detective. We have some really neat tools. We know what we need and we will produce that connectivity and frequency charts. From there we can discuss what to do with the information."

At the mention of getting the FEDEX and UPS data Special Agent Crocket smiled, "Nice Detective, let us work through that data. Also we have a bit more clout with those guys, and should be able to put a watch notice on their deliveries. Also can you give us access to the video? You can continue to look for the city delivery vehicles we will hunt for the lunch vans."

"Ok, sounds like a plan," said Detective Beckett, "let's get it done."

"Detective," reminded Captain Gates.

"Yes, Sir," said Detective Beckett.

As they entered the Captain's office, the Captain motioned for the Detective to close the door. "Do you think it's wise for Castle to come back so soon?"

"I don't think I could force him to stay home Sir. He thinks this is going to be one great story. If he wasn't here he still would be looking into it. This way I have some control."

Laughing Captain Gates said, "You are probably right on that…Ok, but I'm going to need a Return to Work form and for him to pass a psych evaluation."

"When I called the hospital this morning to check up on him I had them put a Return to Work form in the release package. Castle would have never have thought about it, but a psych eval Sir?"

"Yes. I don't know how he going to react and I want to be sure before he goes back out there."

"Ok Sir I'll schedule it."

"How are you doing?"

"I'll let you know tomorrow morning Sir. I haven't been this nervous in a while. I know I shouldn't feel guilty but…"

"He knows it was an accident."

"I know, but until I see it in his eyes…" After a moment of silence, "…if that is all Captain."

"Dismissed."

Her Team watched her leave the Captain's office for the small conference room. A couple of minutes later she rejoined them. In response to their unspoken question she offered, "I had to schedule a psych eval for Castle. The Captain is worried about how Castle is going to react."

"He's fine," offered Esposito, "but I still wish I could be a fly on the wall."

"Me too," smiled Kate. "Now I got to figure out how to tell him."

Kate's video review work kept getting interrupted, first by the liaisons, next by the FBI to set up the common information pool, then the receipt of the data from the phone companies, and the delivery services, and finally a long phone call with Inspector O'Donnell and the PR department trying to come-up with a press release statement. The only highlight of the day was the text from Castle. 'Home, miss you, C'

The end of day round up was short and to the point. There was nothing new on finding other corporate apartments and they had learned nothing new of consequence. The phone data and the package delivery data had been collected, copied, and delivered to the FBI. Special Agent Crockett said it would take several days for the phone data to gel. The package delivery wasn't that bad. They should have a preliminary analysis tomorrow, and be ready to investigate some 'what if's' tomorrow afternoon as well. The names that will be generated will be able to be tied to the phone data. This will give us a clear picture of their private retail business.

"Ok," said Detective Beckett "we are in the phase of the investigation we all hate. We still know nothing new, and we are waiting for the data to be analyzed. Tomorrow we contact the freight companies we identified today. Also we will pay Counselor McIntire a visit. …. Special Agent Crockett …."

"I have nothing to add Detective."

"Tomorrow then," said Detective Beckett with a meaningful glance toward Castle's chair. Kate stepped away from the murder board and reflected on today's activity. This wasn't a murder investigation, but she felt she was still playing against a fast clock. They had to find these guys before they could shift their operations. Finding an empty warehouse would not be a victory. The interruptions had been bothersome, but what had really annoyed her was Special Agent Crockett sitting in Castle's chair. It should not have mattered but to Kate it was important.

'Now' thought Kate 'how do I tell my husband that I was the one who shot him?'

**Chapter 7 Domestic Business**

**At the Loft**

Castle got home from the hospital a little bit before noon. After a long hot shower and changing into comfortable clothes he spent the day the way he normally did, alternately playing with his son and writing. A little while ago Castle moved James and the portable play pen in to the kitchen as he did the preparation for dinner.

As James was watching Castle explained that the key to a great stir fry is in the preparation. First the meat and vegetables had to be selected to be complementary in taste, texture, and appearance. Next they had to be cut up into small chucks, small enough to cook quickly but still big enough to be easily captured by chopsticks. Next the cooking oil and sauce had to be selected with care. The cooking oil should be light and leave no after taste and the sauce should have a pleasant taste but not overwhelm the meat or the vegetables. In his opinion Castle had discovered the perfect ginger sauce several years ago and had stuck with it ever since. Oh yea the other secret, invest in a good rice cooker.

Preparation done, Castle fed James a small snack and coaxed him to lie down for a nap in the play pen, now located in Rick's office. With dinner preparation complete and his son sleeping peacefully, Castle turned on his laptop; leaned back in his chair took a deep breath and was immediately captured by his fears.

'What are you going to do if Kate uses this incident and asks you not be her shadow in tactical situations anymore?' reflected Rick. 'She has a point. No since in leaving James an orphan…..No Kate is safer when I'm with her. Kate knows that. She knows that when you are together we are spectacular….Kate you are careful and precise when you enter the situation, because you know our lives are at stake….but what I did this time was over the top. What were you thinking?' Rick asked himself. ' You deliberately moved in to confront a gun totting killer who had just shot two cops to cause them pain with only a baton…Maybe getting shot was a warning not to press my luck….and getting shot by Kate' laughed Rick to himself, 'that just adds irony to the insult…Kate knows you would die for her. What are you going to do if she asks you to live for her?'

Castle contemplated that question for a long time before opening the folder containing the book he was writing on his friend the Mayor. About an hour later Castle heard his son stir saw him move and pull himself up.

"Hi James did you have a nice nap? …Mommy should be home soon…. I know you want me to read to you. You are an action fan and don't like it when I read from the Mayor's book. Let me save this and open up Nikki."

The traffic was smart enough to get out of Kate's way as she drove home. Kate was so engrossed with her personal problem that she barely gave the traffic any thought. Not a good practice for a city like New York. On the way home she contemplated stopping and buying take out. She rejected the notion. Ever since they had been dating they had always shared the dinner preparation and cleanup chores. She found the time she spent with her husband in doing these simple tasks to be very soothing and relaxing and would not trade it for all of the takeout in the world. After she parked in the garage, she did walk to the bodega on the corner and bought some ice cream, Chocolate for Rick, Rocky Road for her. Ice cream had always been their 'after' treat. 'Oh please, thought Kate, 'tonight let there be an after.'

Kate walked in and did a quick check of the mail, walked into the bedroom hung up her jacket, stowed her weapon and credentials, changed into her house clothes and took the ice cream into the kitchen. Passing by Castle's office she heard Rick say "said Rook."

…"arghburgh"

"You're right the dialogue needs work. I'll ask your mother. She's good at this."

She couldn't help but smile. If Castle's fan base knew he was taking dialogue critique from a baby….Oh stir fry. He didn't know what time I would be home so he made something that could come together quick. Oh well let's get this over with.

Walking into the office Kate said "Castle we need to talk."

"I know Kate. If you think it's best that I don't shadow you on tactical situations anymore I will understand."

"Wait, what, no. Castle what are you talking about?"

"I thought that since I got shot you would think it was too dangerous and would want to permanently bench me."

"Never,' Kate breathed.

"Oh, Ok, what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm…I'm the one who shot you."

"I know. I asked at the hospital. They said it was a shotgun pellet and since you were the only one with a shotgun…. I still can't figure out how it happened," said Castle in a rushed voice.

"I thought," said Kate as she looked away from Castle unable to meet his gaze, "that you might have second thoughts about me, my tactical judgment, my ability to handle a weapon, my ability to keep you safe."

In a flash Rick was standing in front of Kate. His left hand was on her chin and slowly and gently lifting it to face him. "Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle," said Rick in a firm commanding voice. "This changes nothing between us. You hear me nothing. I have full faith in your tactical abilities, and you should too," continued Rick in a firm tone. "I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense. I may not know much, but I know my place is by your side. I know that I may get shot at. People may try to poison us or blow us up. If that is the price I must pay to be with you then I consider it the best bargain I ever made."

"Nonsense," countered Kate with the beginnings of a smile. "Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle Just a moment ago you suggested I bench you."

"I … I was wrong," said Rick.

"So right," said Kate as she pulled Rick's head down for a lingering kiss.

…"asertgjusrf"

"It's Ok James Mommy's got a kiss for you too," laughed Kate, as she disengaged from Castles arms and walked over and reached into the playpen to pick up and kiss her son.

Even though James could not talk the subtext was clear 'Parents!'

"Why don't you save what you were working on, and I will take our resident dialogue and kissing critic out to get fed while you start dinner."

"He may not be hungry I sort of fed him as I was prepping."

"….tyujddi," complained James.

"Oh I think he'll eat," affirmed Kate.

Kate knew she was right when James started to bounce up and down.

So completely absorbed and relieved by the events in the office that halfway to the kitchen Kate was momentarily startled to see Martha. "Joining us for dinner Martha?"

"Katherine is everything alright?" She had heard Castle's loud voice and some of the words when she came in and seeing the tear-streaked face of her daughter-in-law she was deeply troubled.

"I'm ok Martha. Everyone's ok now really. It's just a Fool and her Jackass…"

"…were blinded by their fears and got lost," said Castle as he walked up and affectionately put an arm around Kate's waist.

"…and when they found each other…"

"…each was able to banish the fear from the eyes of the other and end the affair."

"End?" said Kate in a soft sexy tone.

"Well maybe there will be further discussion later."

'Right' thought Kate as she smiled up at Rick with her private smile.

Martha watched with growing relief as her children smiled away her concern.

"Sometimes I wish I had you guys on tape. You could show my class how to play a love scene."

"'Play a love scene'," blasted Kate with mock venom. Both of them knew that in Martha's world she had just played them the greatest compliment.

"Here let me take James while you guys do the dinner dance you do so well. And yes I would like to join you for dinner."

With James easily transferred to Martha Kate watched with fascination as Rick came to a semblance of attention, bowed, held out his hand and asked, "My Lady may I have the honor of this dance?"

Kate caught the payback gleam in his eyes, laughed, blushed, curtseyed, and replied, "Yes kind Sir I would love to. I had hoped you would have asked sooner."

"I would have, but I saw you in the arms of another."

"True. I love him so," said Kate with a smile and a glance at James, "but only you have my heart," as she reached up and pulled Castles face down to her waiting lips.

With a sigh, Kate broke the lingering and enthusiastic kiss, turned to Martha and asked "How was that?"

"I think you need to practice hugging and kissing some more," replied Martha with a huge grin.

"…wdvgyjh,' agreed James.

With a huge smile on her face, "I'll put on some music while you start dinner," offered Kate. She selected three CD's. The first was more for Martha than anyone else. The second was a mix of their favorites. The third well, if Castle had not taken the hint by now, the third CD would make her intentions for this evening crystal clear.

Returning to the kitchen she saw Castle take additional chicken and shrimp out of the microwave. "Hey who bought the ice cream," he asked.

"I did," confessed Kate. "It was either to drown my sorrows or…"

"…celebrate?" offered Rick.

"Celebrate," agreed Kate. Most definitely celebrate agreed Kate.

Between spoonfuls of strained peas and chicken for James, Martha watched her children perform their dinner dance magic. In a twinkling an extra place setting appeared on the dinner table. A moment later wine glasses appeared and Kate opened a bottle of her favorite red, another clear indication that someone would get lucky tonight. In a flash Kate had the salads on the table, Caesar for Martha and Kate, Waldorf for Rick. By the time Martha had finished feeding and cleaning James, the rice appeared, followed almost immediately by Rick and the main course. They truly are a good husband and wife team, thought Martha. After almost two years there practiced routine was still laced with smiles and tender touches. 'I'm glad you found her son,' thought Martha.

"I know I've said this before Katherine, but welcome to the family."

Over dinner Kate revealed the fact that she shot Castle and that was the root cause of the Fool and Jackass episode. As Kate discussed the details of the case, Martha watched Rick slowly fold in on himself.

"What's wrong Castle?" Kate finally asked Castle.

"What if it's Gino?"

"Then we take him down," said Kate without a moment's hesitation. 'Right' nodded Castle.

James' "..tuyhjg," broke the tension and restored the good warm feeling that had prevailed at the Castle's dinner table.

**Chapter 8 The Precinct is That A Way **

**Next Morning**

Castle was a little annoyed when Kate rushed them out of the Loft the next morning. For the hundredth time he reassured her that he had his medical release form. Something was not quite right, but Castle could not put his finger on it. When Kate missed the turn for the precinct and headed further downtown he finally broke the silence. "Kate, where are we going? The precinct is that away."

"I'm taking you to your eight o'clock with Dr. Sanders. Captain Gates ordered a psych evaluation. Dr. Sanders is the one who helped me with my problem. As a favor he agreed to see you before his normal office hours."

Kate tuned Rick out as he raged, "Captain Gates ordered a psych evaluation did she! How dare she? Who does she think she is? ..."

After a moment of silence she saw Castle talk a deep breath and ask, "Why didn't you tell me last night?"

With a small smirk Kate replied, "Then I would probably not have had ice cream last night. Or worse I would have eaten it alone." Last night's lovemaking session had been spectacular. It wasn't a top ten. In fact they haven't had a top ten since James was born, but none of them had been a dud either. All in all she was extremely satisfied with their sex life, but a special night out, or in seemed to be in order.

Kate felt the tension and bluster flow out of Castle. She smiled to herself when he heard him say, "When did you get to be so wise? ... You know if you weren't driving and we weren't in a police car I would kiss you."

Risking a glance at her husband Kate replied, "Great! I have an IOU from my husband for a memorable kiss. I will hold you to that."

"I will gladly repay, with interest," promised Castle. "Assuming of course the doctor thinks I'm sane enough to volunteer for the NYPD."

Several minutes later Kate pulled up in front of the Doctors office, "the Doctor is in suite 307. Play nice."

"I'll see you back at the precinct." When Castle opened the door to the Suite he came face to face with Dr. Sanders.

"Mr. Castle I presume," said Dr. Sanders, holding out his hand. "Come on in and we'll get started."

After shaking hands they walked into the Dr.'s office. Castle noticed the bookshelves overflowing with books and felt immediately at ease. "Before we get started," said Castle "I want to thank you for what you for what you did for Kate, Detective Beckett."

"The subject tried to influence the decision by flattery," verbalized the Doctor.

"Wait, no," said Castle. Noticing the grin on the Dr.'s face Castle started to chuckle "I got a feeling that if I tried the flattery approach it wouldn't work. So I say it again. Thanks for Kate."

With a wave of his hand the Doctor waved Castle to a seat. "Do you know why you are here?"

"A couple of days ago I got shot, by Kate in fact, and Captain Gates wants me to pass a psych evaluation before she will let me back into the precinct."

"How does that make you feel?"

"I never knew I was hit. It must have happened as I went after Sal Martinez. Kate shot a couple of times to keep his head down. It was a zillion to one shot. One of the shot gun pellets must have made it through the boxes. I never knew I was hit until I woke up in the hospital."

"I mean being shot by Kate."

"That means nothing, "said Castle with a dismissive wave of his hand. "As I said it was a zillion to one shot. Our biggest problem was over analyzing the aftermath... I feared Kate would conclude that being her shadow was too dangerous, especially now that we have James. Kate feared I would question her judgment. Luckily we talked it out before any major damage was done."

"You guys share much?" asked the Doctor is his professional neutral tone.

"Now," laughed Castle. "It took a near death experience for me to tell her I love her, and the fear of losing her forever for me to propose. It took another near death experience for Kate to come to my door and another one for her to finally set the date. We have learned our lesson and we talk. Kate is still a secret keeper, but she is always truthful with me."

"What about Captain Gates?"

"Originally I was pissed, but then I realized she was just doing her job and looking out for her people. So here I am."

During the next thirty minutes the Doctor bombarded Castle with an endless stream of innocently phrased questions designed to elicit Castles' feelings on the shooting matter.

The last question the Doctor asked stopped Castle in his tracks.

"Mr. Castle, I've been curious for a long time. Why do you do it? Why do you still shadow Detective Beckett?"

Castle blinked, looked away for a moment then looked back at the Doctor. "In the beginning it was all about me. I was a bored successful author. I had everything I wanted, except a challenge. I did not have a real reason to live. On the first case, I saw things that Kate and the rest of the Team didn't. When they went to pick up the guy, they left me in the car, but I ended up confronting and taking down the bad guy. As I said solving the cases was a rush and they provided excellent material for me to base my books on. Of course I had the ulterior motive of trying to find a way to get Detective Beckett into my bed. Over time I noticed that Kate was exceptional and deserved better than a one night stand. I also understood that she had been obsessed with her Mother's unsolved murder. In my arrogance I thought if I could help her solve it I could win her affection forever…"

"Do you solve it?"

With a grimace Castle replied, "Yes, but not that we can prove in court. It is still a touchy subject, but one we have learned to accept and move on. Over time I grew to love her but was getting nowhere with her. Also I began to feel that what I was doing was helping the people and that felt great…."

"And?"

"Well you know, the shooting, the therapy, the job in DC, they all combined in Kate agreeing to marry me. The other events forced us to reflect on our lives and marry quickly….. So you asked why I do it. It's still all about me," said Castle with a huge smile. "I still experience the rush when we solve a case. I use the material in my books which makes the reading public happy and keeps me a successful author. I feel that I am giving back to the people with the good police work we are doing, and best of all I get to do it all with Kate. The woman I love. For all of this I will gladly accept the risks involved. "

With a nod the Doctor said, "There is some paperwork I need to fill out and you need to take back with you, but I think I can safely clear you to be Kate's shadow."

As soon as Castle had left the Doctor made two phone calls. The first was to Captain Gates to inform her that he had seen Mr. Castle and they were no outstanding issues preventing his return to duty. The second was to Kate.

She had just finished the early morning session with her extended Team when her phone rang. Ryan saw her eyes widen when she checked user id and punched the talk button. "Beckett," she said.

"Detective, this is Doctor Sanders. I just had a talk with your husband. He will be joining you soon. I understand that you are the one who shot him. If you feel the need to talk…"

The Team watched Kate's eyes move to Castle's chair then back to the board. "No Doctor that would not be necessary. The only person whose opinion really matters has already given me a pep talk, which I really needed. If I feel the need I will certainly reach out."

"Good, It was great finally meeting your husband, Bye."

"Somehow Castle convinced the Doctor to let him return," said Kate with a small grin. "So let's start working those shippers and see if any of them will admit to delivering to the drug warehouse."

**Chapter 9 The Band is Back Together **

"Good morning Castle," called out the Desk Sergeant as Castle entered the precinct house. "It's good to see you have survived your near death experience."

"'Good morning Sergeant Murdock. Yes, another day of hospital food, or another attack by the killer reporters and I would have gone stir crazy, "replied Castle with a laugh.

"Off you go. You know the way," laughed Sergeant Murdock. He watched as Castle greeted and was greeted by the officers in the house. Over the years his status had changed from civilian they had to tolerate, to something like a mascot, to a non-gun carrying fully fledged member, and more to the point. He had earned it. He normally didn't call up to inform the Captain that Castle was in the house, but today seemed like a special day.

Captain Gates took the Desk Sergeant's call and moved to stand in her doorway. She was watching Special Agent Crockett sitting in Castle's chair talking with Detective Beckett about something. It was good to know that the Doctor had given Castle a clear mental health. So would put the paperwork in the folder that Captain Montgomery had started. It made interesting reading. If he was a serving officer he would have a number of award and decorations, just like Kate and the rest of the Team. In all cases he had talked the Mayor out of any kind of civilian award. Even with his track record she was still uncomfortable with a civilian in her house.

Over the years she had come to admire how Castle and Detective Beckett handled themselves in the office and in the field. They had acted like professionals at all times. Sure there had been a few times where they had slipped up, like when Alexis was kidnapped, or the last trimester of Kate's pregnancy, but only a cold hearted fool would hold that against them. Sure there are small things that if you really observed you could see. That just made their restraint all the more remarkable.

Captain Gates watched with amusement as Kate's head snapped toward the elevator. She watched as Kate, pretending not to hurry, rushed to greet her husband. As usual Castle was carrying two coffees. The Captain watched as Kate's hands covered her husbands, instead of reaching for the cups. She saw the smile on Kate's face when Castle leaned in to tell her something. Then they looked in her direction and nodded. Kate took the cups back to her desk and Castle walked in her direction.

Castle walked off of the elevator and headed toward to the Detective bull-pen. He saw Kate working at her desk and obviously, Special Agent Crockett sitting in his chair. He saw Kate spring up and rush to meet him. "Needed your caffeine fix that bad did you," teased Castle. "I've only been gone a couple of days and I see I've been replaced."

"Yes, and he is kind of cute isn't he," Kate teased back, even though her eyes said 'I missed you' and her touch said, 'there is only you.'

"Here take these, I better check in with the Captain."

'You bet,' said Kate's smile.

"Good morning Captain," said Castle as he approached. "I've got some forms I need to give you."

"Come on in and close the door Mr. Castle. We have some things to discuss."

The closed door and the wave by the Captain to a chair surprised Castle. 'She has something on her mind,' thought Castle, just wait her out.

"I know you have a medical release and Dr. Sanders called and said he was clearing you for duty, but we need to talk. I need for you to understand a few things."

"It's alright Captain I understand why you ordered the evaluation. I can't say I was pleased, but I understand you ordered it to protect all of the people under your command, even a certain civilian who is not."

"Good,… and the fact that Detective Beckett shot you?"

"You saw the geometry Sir. It was a zillion to one shot. Detective Beckett had to be careful of her aim because of the downed officers, and she needed to provide covering fire so that I could get close. We talked it through at home. There is nothing to worry about there. As I said, a zillion to one shot."

"What were you thinking of when you rushed Sal Martinez? You are a civilian, not a cop."

The Captain's outburst had caught Castle by surprise. Frankly he had expected one from Kate, but the events at the warehouse and the hospital had not given her a chance to corner him. "Only way, Sir. I thought that was the only way we could rescue the officers. I didn't know when the backup would arrive. I thought I could get close and with the baton…"

"Still Mr. Castle it was a dangerous thing to do."

"Yes Sir, but I didn't see another way."

"Good, Mr. Castle you are a valuable member of this Team. I would hate it if you were severely injured. Do you have any questions?"

"A couple Sir. While I was in the hospital I saw Kate's interview. Is it true that we were the only unit to respond to the call?"

"Unfortunately yes, and that is all I'm going to say about that."

"Captain don't you think it's strange that a group of homicide detectives catch this case? I know I do, and I've got a few choice theories."

"Have you shared those with anyone?"

"I have not told Detective Beckett, nor have I talked with my wife." When Captain Gates nodded, Castle continued, "Sir, neither Esposito nor Ryan are stupid, and Kate…."

"I know, just keep your speculations private Mr. Castle, understand?"

"Yes Sir. Is there anything else?"

"Yes Mr. Castle. Let's solve this."

"Yes Sir."

Special Agent Crockett watched Castle leave the Captain's office and walk toward the murder board. He saw him exchange words with Detective Beckett, talk a sip of his coffee and start to read the board. He was drawn into the Team area when Castle pulled up another board and started writing and talking.

"I think we need to add a couple of categories." After writing 'People' on the board Castle turned. "First where are the people who worked at the warehouse? I mean we got there a little after eight and it was empty. I wonder what type of hours a drug warehouse keeps. How do they get to work? Public transportation? Private automobile?"

"Picking private cars out of the video would be impossible," remarked Esposito. "That is a very busy street and we don't know what their cars look like."

"Agreed, but where did they park? I thought we found Sal's car on the street." When Esposito nodded Castle, "Let's suppose the workers had to park on the street, are there other buildings with cameras that see the parking area?"

"We'll check," said Ryan.

"Where do the people live? We know the company did not lease any more apartments in the one building where they housed Sal, but what about other apartments?"

"That's a lot of cold calls Castle," said Ryan.

"Probably," admitted Castle. "Get the list together and I'll help."

"Also we need to talk to the lawyer. I know he will claim privilege and all of that but we need still need to try. From what you guys have here I think he is just hired help. He was probably just used to get the leases signed. I wonder if they used him to set up a local bank account."

"They did Mr. Castle," said Agent Adams. "He set-up the account and pays the bills by computer. He submits an invoice for the expenses and his billables to an offshore bank. They refresh the account quarterly. We have given the account data to Mrs. Woods. She has not been able to learn anymore about the account, but she is still working it."

"I assume we have frozen the account?" said Castle. When he saw Agent Adams nod Castle continued, "do we know if Counselor McIntire represents any other foreign owned LLC's?...Is there any way we can find out?"

"With each distribution center a different LLC that will make it tough to roll –up the organization if one center gets compromised, that is just smart," observed Agent Adams.

"Especially of the companies are incorporated in different countries," said Esposito.

"That's something else we'll ask Mary to look into," said Special Agent Crockett.

"Again I'm pretty sure he does not know much and will invoke privilege, but if we can convince him that it is in his best interest to be flexible we may be willing to share a bit more than normal."

"He was on my list for today." Confirmed Detective Beckett.

Special Agent Crockett was puzzled when Castle wrote 'Westees' on the board.

"If I remember right, the burner phones were bought by the LLC, but were reported stolen, hijacked in fact here in the NYC area. Who do we know locally that specializes in this activity?"

"Didn't they say they would you kill you if you interfered with their operations again?" commented Esposito.

"Yeah," said Castle. "But we are not interfering, and considering their extreme anti-drug stance they may decide to help."

"It's worth a shot," affirmed Kate. Next Ty watched Castle turn and write 'Follow the Money' and under that 'Credit Cards' and 'Pay Pal.'

"Credit cards," echoed Kate. "If we can find just one person who will say they bought the drugs using their credit card…"

"…then we can take down their whole financial structure. We need to hurry. With what I've seen so far, it would not surprise me if they are all ready shutting down those accounts and moving the money," finished Ryan.

In a flash the Detectives and Agents divided up the contacts and made the calls. They confirmed that the LLC did accept credit cards, but would need a court order to get additional information.

"We are going to need warrants," remarked Detective Ryan.

"Which should be easy," offered Castle. "Because we already have the names from retail shippers and during the course of a routine interview…"

"We would ask them how they paid for the drugs…" offered Detective Beckett.

"…and since we could get their credit card histories anyway…"

"They do have a 'Pay Pal' corporate account," said Agent Adams. "The information will tell us the web site. From there we can try to find them."

"Ok Castle," Said Kate with a flash of pride. "What's next?"

"Follow the Cash," replied Castle. "If I remember the reports, Sue said CSU found in excess of nine million dollars in boxes. Where was it going? I've got a couple of theories. Either they were shipping back to a central area, in which case the 'pick-up' data from the wholesale shippers will tell us that, or they used an armored car service and transported it to a local bank."

"But the bank would have to report the deposit," offered Agent Adams.

"Not if it is a privately-owned bank and owned by the bad guys," offered Detective Beckett. "And once the money is inside it can be hidden and transferred in some many ways."

"But the regulators…"

"Will not have a clue," concluded Special Agent Crockett, "because there is no suspicious activity to trigger an audit because it can be declared as additional capital supplied by the owner, especially if the bank is private."

"Special Agent Crockett…"

"I know Mr. Castle. We need a list of all banks that were bought and went private in the five boroughs in the last year."

"Even so it would not surprise me if they started moving assets, just leaving enough to cover the legitimate patrons," remarked Castle.

"Plans Detective?" said Captain Gates.

"If I may Detective, Captain let the Bureau get and serve the warrants for the credit card companies. We will combine it with the list of names given to us by the 'retail shippers; as Castle called them and provide a list of targets in a day or so. Also let us take a crack at their website. I think I can grab a lot more resources to work on the problems that you have here."

"I'm ok with that. Detective?"

"I'm good Sir. Next we need to see if there is any video of the parking area in front of the warehouse."

"I'll get some uniforms to do that."

"Espo could you and Ryan hit the 'wholesale shippers' for their information."

"Ok"

"What format do you think the data will be in?"

"Probably just copies of shipping invoices, so hard copy. Why?"

"We'll get a couple of document scanners sent over so we can convert it into a more permanent form," offered Agent Adams.

"Ok," said Esposito.

"I'll have others on my team start the bank search," said Special Agent Crockett.

"How about checking with the Armored Car Services in parallel," offered Castle, "If they made a pick-up then they made a delivery."

"It's worth a shot," conceded Ty.

"Castle and I will visit the hospital and talk to the officers about what started this case. Then the lawyer and end up at the Westees."

"That leaves compiling a list of possible corporate apartments and making the cold calls," said Castle.

"Detective do you mind if I accompany you?" asked Special Agent Crockett. " I need a couple of minutes to get my Team kicked off on their tasks, but I would like to hear what the uniforms and the lawyer have to say."

Ty smiled to himself as Castle held open the rear door to the cruiser. 'I'm not here to steal your woman,' though Special Agent Crockett. 'I wouldn't stand a chance. It's clear that she has only eyes for you and you for her and I can accept that really. I just wish….'

"Do you usually ride along Castle?"

"Yes," answered Kate. "There have been some exceptions, but usually yes."

"I know you have probably been asked this a couple of hundred times, but are you.."

"Related to the 'Crockett'. Yes."

"What made you decide to join the Bureau?"

"It just seemed like the right thing to do." When he saw both of their heads nodding he realized that no further answer was necessary. They continued the small talk all the way to the hospital.

Checking in at reception they learned that Sato and Garcia were in adjoining rooms on the third floor. Away from the ER the hospital had a feel of a quiet and restful place. Their footsteps echoed on the tile floor and some of the directional signs had some interesting names. As they entered the patient area the title was replaced by carpet and the nurse's station was manned by a pair of nurses. Presently they appeared to be updating the patient's files.

Approaching Officer Sato's room they heard voices from next door commenting on daytime television. Smiling to himself Castel lead the way. "If that stuff is not an incentive to get the hell out of here than I don't know what is," said Castle.

"Castle, Detective Beckett, were glad you dropped by," said Officer Sato. "I was telling Mike this morning that as soon as we are both released we need to drop by the 12th to say thanks."

"No need," replied Detective Beckett, "You guys would have done the same for us."

"You got that right," said Officer Garcia.

"Guys, this is Special Agent Ty Crockett he has been assigned to help us with the warehouse case."

After handshakes had been exchanged Castle asked "What's the deal? When are they springing you guys?"

"Tomorrow for me," said Officer Sato.

"Two maybe three more days for me," said Officer Garcia, "provided I don't kill myself first," he grumbled. "It's the boredom," he offered.

"I know," Kate replied. "I was in the bed for over a week, then on rehab for three months. I got tired of watching weeds grow and listening to crickets chirp. You are just going to have to trust that you are going to get well enough to return, and then you will."

As Kate was speaking Ty noticed Castle's face harden and take on an almost haunted expression. There is a story there that I would like to know, but I'm not going to ask, at least not them.

"Unfortunately," said Castle "This is not entirely a social call."

"You want to know how two great policemen like us managed to get ourselves into such a bad situation," laughed Officer Sato.

"Yes and No," replied Kate with a smile. "If there is a lesson there then I want to hear it so that my partner and I don't make the same one," she said with a meaningful glance at Castle. "Originally we came over to ask what caused you to notice them."

"Two weeks ago we had station house duty," began Officer Sato with a shrug "It happens, and during one of the periods of boredom I started looking through the mug shots of known killers on the loose and maybe in the NYC operational area. Sal Martinez's picture was like number five. So each time I would start looking through the book after taking care of a citizen I would see his face. So when he and the other two came out of the bodega on the corner I was sure it was him."

"We followed them but I guess our tradecraft wasn't great. They jumped us as soon as we entered the warehouse and the rest is history," offered Officer Garcia.

"There were people on the street, we could see that they were armed and we didn't want a shoot out, so we called it in. We tried to enter the warehouse as stealthily as possible, but when we rounded the corner they were ready and waiting. "

Both Castle and Kate suppressed the question 'why didn't you wait for backup' because each knew they would not have waited.

"Trying to take them in the warehouse was the correct thing to do," said Castle. "Nobody wants a public shootout. Well maybe the TV guys."

"As long as they can do so from a safe distance, those vultures," remarked Kate in a particular cold voice.

"Well anyway that's our story," concluded Officer Sato.

After saying their goodbyes and on their way to the cruiser Castle remarked, "It looks like we need to add the bodega to the places we need to visit."

"Luckily I have a picture of Sal in my portfolio," said Kate.

Counselor Kevin McIntire's office was located in one of the office buildings near the courthouse that housed a myriad of lawyers. In fact Kate's Dad's office was less than a block away. Considering the time, the group decided to eat lunch off of one of the carts that moved into the area around lunch time to feed the busy people. The hot dogs were slightly overpriced, but generally good and considering the alternative almost a bargain.

"Oh Mr. Castle good to see you again. The usual?"

"Sure, for me Kate and what do you want Ty?"

"Chilidog, chips and a drink."

"Got that Mike?"

"Yes Sir. When is a new Heat book coming out? You know I really enjoy them and my wife does too."

"I'm about three-quarters of the way through." Kate had to suppress a smile when Castle continued. "But I'm having a little trouble with the dialogue and I need to ask Kate for some help, but she is kind of busy right now."

"Yeah with the drug warehouse thing I know. When my wife asked me why the city had put her, a great homicide detective, in charge of an investigation like this it made me wonder. My only answer was that this way they knew they had an honest cop looking into it and she would do her best to solve it. "

"My thoughts exactly," echoed Castle. With a glance at Special Agent Crockett he continued, "say Mike have you noticed any new vendors on the street? I mean guys setting up in locations that are marginal, but they seem to be doing alright?"

"I haven't been looking. Do you think they are dealing drugs from their carts?"

"That is one of the working theories that we are trying to run down," admitted Castle.

"I'll keep my eyes open. Drugs from street carts, what's next guns?"

Special Agent Crockett listened heard as Castle was talking to the street vendor. 'Well he listened to my 'Roach Coach' story and adapted it to this circumstance. Maybe he is as good as they say. The street vendors would have access to the rich and busy and could easily pass their clients something special. I'm going to have to look into this. The marginal location comment was a great observation.'

"How much do I owe you," asked Special Agent Crockett.

"Keep your money Agent, one of the perks of being married to a multimillionaire is that you get to dine at such exquisite locations on such lavish fare for free." Special Agent Crockett was taken aback for a moment at the sarcasm in Kate's voice. But then he saw the laughter in both their eyes and felt privileged that they had made him part of an old joke.

After lunch they went up to the law offices of McIntire, McDermott, and McDonald. As they got off of the evaluator on the forty-seventh floor and entered the lobby of the law office Castle quickly upgraded his opinion of the firm. They occupied half of this floor. The bookcases were moderately full and contained a mixture of general reference materials and popular fiction, including his latest Nikki Heat book. The furnishings were new, modern, functional, and very tasteful. The wall art was original oils with a mix of young and established artists, and the fact that the receptionist was wearing a NY Knicks lapel pin on her jacket did not hurt matters at all.

After a quick call the receptionist ushered them into a large conference room. She extracted seven bottles of water from an artfully concealed refrigerator and said, "The partners will be with you shortly."

Castle opened up one of the bottles of water, took a sip and whispered to Kate, "Do you want to pop over and see your Dad?" Kate took a glance at Agent Crockett and shook her head no, "Another time," she sighed. With a nod Castle turned walked toward the window, looked out and pretended to enjoy the view.

The partners did not make them wait long at all. No more than two minutes later the three partners and another young lady entered the room. "Good afternoon, I'm Kevin McIntire," announced a balding medium height man with a slight frame and piecing brown eyes. He appeared to be in his early fifties and still looked to be in excellent condition.

"I'm Tom McDermott," said a red headed giant of a man who appeared to be in his early forties. Tom was six-four and two hundred and fifty pounds. You could tell that he had been an athlete in his earlier life, but was slowing losing the battle to time.

"I'm Bill McDonald," said a medium height man with the build of a weight lifter who looked like he still hit the gym on a regular basis. His graying brown hair did nothing to hide the intelligence behind his gray-green eyes. If Kate had to guess an age she would have said he was in his early thirties.

"and I'm Amy Foster," said a very attractive young red-headed woman that reminded them both of Alexis.

"Until she can take the Bar Exam I'm using Amy as my personal assistant," said Tom. When he spoke you could clearly hear the pride in his voice, and the family resemblance was unmistakable.

"I'm Detective Kate Beckett, Special Agent Ty Crockett, and Mr. Castle," said Kate completing the introductions.

"To say your visit is unexpected would be in error," started Kevin. "I'm pretty sure you know we are caught between our Professional Ethics and our desire to the right thing."

"This firm specializes in business law," added Tom, "both domestic and overseas. We had no idea that the warehouse was going to be used for that activity."

"When we found out, we terminated our contract with them. We always write that provision into our contracts; if the other party doesn't want to sign then we don't do business," added Bill.

"That ever happen?" asked Castle.

"Yes," replied Kevin. "Even though we have terminated our representation, our past work products are still privileged."

"I understand," said Detective Beckett "Is there anything you can tell us?"

"Amy," said Tom with a nod toward Kate's group.

"Here," said Amy handing Kate a CD. "This is everything the partners' think they can give you without compromising the company's reputation. It contains all the public filing we have made in their behalf and the business arrangements this firm had made for them."

"Its material you would have found out eventually, all we did was save you some research time," offered Kevin.

"This is probably more than we hoped for," admitted Detective Beckett. "Thank you. If you don't mind we have so other questions to ask."

"We figured as much," smiled Bill. "We will answer what we can, but you should not expect much."

"You said you specialize in business law. Do you represent other firms that have the same profile as Dragon Toys, LLC?" asked Kate.

"Yes," replied Tom "and before you ask we will not release their names without a court order."

"Which we will fight strenuously," added Bill. "Our clients deserve their privacy."

"Are you performing the same functions in the same manner for another LLC?" asked Castle.

"I can't comment. Why are you asking this?"

"We think that there is another drug warehouse out there," said Special Agent Crockett. "Furthermore we believe it is organized as another LLC."

"To prevent catastrophic loss should another center be compromised? Nice," added Tom. "But I'm afraid we cannot help you Special Agent Crockett. Our hands are tied."

"Did you ever physically meet anyone?" asked Detective Beckett.

"No"

"What about emails or phone calls?"

"Emails yes, phone calls no, and we consider all contact information to be protected," replied Kevin.

"How did you bill them for your hours?" asked Castle.

"We managed a bank account for the client. When we pay the electric bill we also pay us," offered Tom.

After a moment of silence Detective Beckett continued, "I guess we are out of questions. Thank you for the CD and your time."

"Detective if you think of a way we can help you take this other center down ask. If we can we will help," affirmed Kevin.

As Amy walked them back to the lobby she started to gush, "Mr. Castle, if you don't mind could you autograph this copy," With an appraising glance at Kate she continued "I'm your biggest fan."

'If I had a nickel...' thought Kate as a smile froze on her face.

"Sure," said Castle with genuine enthusiasm. "How do you want it?"

"To Amy"

When Amy read, 'To Amy, best of luck in your choice profession, Castle' she said, "Perfect, thanks a lot. Best of luck in finding out who is behind the drug warehouse."

In the elevator on the way down Special Agent Crockett asked," Does that happen often?"

"What, a beautiful young women gushing over my husband and asking for his autograph," replied Kate with a touch of sarcasm, "No this was the first time."

Ty watched them exchange glances and could tell from their smiles that this was old ground. He also felt that the only thing that could separate these two was Death, and it would have one heck of a fight on its hands because neither one would be willing to let the other one go.

As they exited the lobby of the building Special Agent Crockett halted to answer his phone. "That was my guys. We have the data from two of the credit card companies. My guys say if the matches are there we will have a targeted list prior to tomorrow mornings stand-up."

"Great," said Kate.

"Castle the credit card idea was inspired. How did you come up with it?"

"Apparently I was robbed while I was in the hospital. When I took a cab home to the Loft and the cabbie asked me how I wanted to pay and all I had in my wallet was credit cards…."

"Aren't your personal affects locked away?"

"Yes, but when the person asking is your wife, who also happens to be a police officer..."

"Hey, Alexis needed cab fare to get back to school in the morning and I told her I would pay her back for dinner. I did not want to take a chance on the ATM being empty again, so…" replied Kate with a touch of mirth in her voice.

"Well at least I didn't have to pay back Martha for dinner," mumbled Castle.

"Yet" said Kate "yet."

The Team decided to stop at the bodega near the warehouse. As they walked in they could not help but notice the group of young gang members hassling the bodega owner. "Look at that," one of the gang members said, looking at Kate. Kate tensed when she heard another gang member say, "I'm going to get me some."

As he started his approach Kate readied to take him down quickly. She did not want to draw her weapon and use that type of force, but the situation could get out of hand quickly. With a step to go she heard the unmistakable 'sprung' of Castle deploying his baton, she heard the air being sliced as it slashed toward her would be assailant and saw the tip of the baton stop a fraction of an inch in front of her startled assailant's nose. The room went silent.

"That lady you were about to 'get some from' is my wife," said Castle in a cool matter of fact voice. "I'm stopping you as a public service I might add. As you were so busy admiring her charms, you failed to notice the chain around her neck on which hangs the shield of a NYP Detective. On her hip is a Glock 10. If she draws and shots you it would ruin your day. If I would have let you get a step closer you would have found yourself flying through the air, bounced on the floor a couple of times and end up face down wearing a beautiful pair of bracelets. I couldn't let you do that. I mean what would your friends think? Thrown through the air like that and manhandled by a woman. Oh yeah I forgot. The guy by the front door he's FBI. He's also from Texas, and he has certain ideas on how ladies are to be treated. And you most definitely do not want to see him angry. I do believe he carries a 1911, and I am certain he knows how to use it. If I may, I suggest you quietly and quickly exit the store and don't let me catch you hanging around here again. "

As the last one exited he turned and asked, "I know I've seen you before, but who are you man?"

"Me? I'm nobody, " answered Castle. "Compared to these two I'm the least dangerous person here."

"You ok sir?" asked Kate.

"I'm fine thanks."

"They always bother you like this?" asked Castle.

"This started a couple days when the police busted the warehouse. The people in the warehouse employed these guys as lookouts and guards and now… Do you think you could get some uniforms to drop by occasionally? I certainly would appreciate it, and so would my customers," he said as an elderly woman with a shopping bag walked in.

With a long glance at Castle Kate replied, "We may be able to help."

"What else are favors for," remarked Castle softly.

"Did any of the people from the warehouse come in here?" asked Kate.

"A couple. I heard them talking about it."

"Could you describe them to a sketch artist?"

"Sure, but I am the only one here until I close at nine."

"That's all right. I'll have the sketch artist come here."

After Detective Beckett had arranged for the sketch artist to come down to the bodega she called the LT at the 12th.

"LT, Detective Beckett, I need the name and number of the LT at the 15th."

"Sure Sergeant, may I ask why?"

"Well the bodega owner near the warehouse, who is going to sit with a sketch artist and help us identify some of the people who worked there, is being hassled by some gang members who used to act as outlying guards for the warehouse. I was hoping that the 15th's LT would drop in a polite nudge to his troops to swing by the bodega on occasion. "

"So the person who is helping identify some of the people who worked with the guy who tried to kill two officers from the 15th needs some visible officer presence," summarized the LT.

"Yes Sir," replied Detective Beckett.

"I'll take care of it. You might talk to the store owner about installing a silent alarm. A visible presence only does so much. Catching the guys in the store, that will result in real jail time. If they know that they might get caught and go to jail, well most of them are smart enough to stay away. "

"Yes Sir."

When Kate explained to the shop owner about what they were trying to do and the value of a silent alarm, the shop owner told them about his elderly mother, a wife recovering from surgery, a child entering college, a son two years behind her, and other son two years later.

As the owner was sitting with the sketch artist, Kate heard her husband work the phones. Within five minutes he had a grant from the Mayor's crime prevention office to cover most of the cost of the installation. Three minutes later he had money from the Crime Watch Council to cover two years worth of monitoring. A third phone call later he had the alarm company agreeing to install the alarm for the money the Mayor's office would provide and throw in an additional three years worth of monitoring if Castle would acknowledge them in his next Nikki Heat book.

Normally Kate had a strong dislike for people who knew 'how to work the system'. But today, seeing her husband do it for someone thirty minutes ago they had not meet in order to make them safer, made her feel proud. After they had completed three sketches, Castle told the shop owner what he had set up. "How can I every repay you." She was even prouder when Castle responded, "Don't repay me. I'm fine. Repay someone else who needs help. You will know it when you see it." 'You know Castle if you keep it up you may get lucky tonight too,' thought Kate then she remembered that this was his first day back.

"How are you feeling?" she whispered.

"I'm fine. You know Fabulous Inventive Nouveau and Extraordinary." When Castle saw the smile breakout on Kate's face he started to laugh.

With the disk from the lawyers office and three sketches safely headed back to the 12th the Castles and Special Agent Crockett preceded to the bar that was both the official and unofficial Headquarters of the Westees.

Kate felt the air grow colder as she entered the building and approached the bar. "I need to speak with O'Rourke."

"He'll not be talking with the likes of you," replied the bartender.

"Look," said Special Agent Crockett, "I'm Special Agent Crockett of the FBI and we need to speak with Mr. O'Rourke now."

"He's not here," said the bartender.

"When will he be back?" asked Kate.

"As long as you are here, never…. I suggest you leave now."

With a glance around the bar Kate nodded and left.

"Well that was a bust," remarked Crockett as they got in the cruiser and headed for the station house. "Kate, pull over. I'm thirsty and I'll think I'll do some research while I'm at it. I'll see you back at the station."

"Research? You got to be kidding. Where is he going?" asked Crockett incredulously?

"He's heading back to the bar," said Kate in a matter of fact tone.

"Alone?"

"We need the information, and right now he is our best shot of getting it."

"But…"

"He'll be fine," or I will tear the bar apart board by board Kate thought. "I suggest you use the time to reach out to your people. I would except I'm driving."

When Castle reentered the bar, the buzz died down. He walked to the bartender ordered a pint of the dark, walked over to the popcorn machine snagged a bowl of popcorn sat the popcorn down at a table and returned to pickup and pay for his beer. "Sell the man his pint," said O'Rourke with a chuckle "we need the trade."

Snagging his beer, Castle paid, left a five dollar tip and walked over to the table he had claimed.

"What are you doing here? I thought I told you I would kill you if I saw you."

"I thought you said you would kill me if I interfered with your operations, which I don't plan to do. Why am I here? Well I have a story to tell about unforeseen consequences and I think you want to hear."

"What if I killed you right now and be done with it?"

"That would piss off the Lady, and trust me a pissed of Kate is something you do not want to experience."

"Hiding behind a Lady's skirts are you Lad," O'Rourke sneered.

"Aye," Castle replied in a calm voice laced with steel as he locked eyes with O'Rourke. "Harm one hair on her head and this place, and all of the other places that you hold dear will disappear."

O'Rourke had heard about Alexis and what Castle had done. He knew that Castle was willing to do everything to protect his family. He could respect that. He also knew that Castle had some powerful friends, who would not hesitate to help make Castle's threat a reality. He also knew that Castle had never requested their help. He could respect that too.

"Ok then, what is this story you want me to listen too."

"You see," said Castle as he took a sip of his beer. "In a land far a way, an evil overlord bought a bunch of magical communication devices and had them shipped back to their fortress in a kingdom called the NYC. But a group of adventures ambushed the shipment and took it for themselves, thus momentary stopping the spreading of evil. Unbeknownst to the adventures the evil overlords sent an emissary who ransomed the magical communications devices. With the devices in place the evil overlords were able to spread death and misery throughout the kingdom."

Castle could easily read the thoughts on O'Rourke's face, the phones they had hijacked and sold were being used by the same drug dealers they had hoped to put out of business.

"Speak plain. What is it that you want and what are you offering."

"I'm offering , well Detective Beckett is, transactional immunity for this entire chain of events, should it ever see the light of day, and what I want is the name of the fence you used and an introduction. He would also be granted immunity if he gives us the buyer. All we want is information to help us understand how this center was set-up so that we can find the others and take them down as well. Your anti-drug stance is well known and appreciated. We had hoped that you would regard this as an opportunity to keep drugs out of your community, and that you would help because it costs you nothing."

"I would also require the guarantee of a future favor."

"You would have to work that out with Detective Beckett. I can guarantee if it includes a homicide it will be turned down."

O'Rourke nodded and said, "I know the quality of the Lady I will be dealing with. It will be nothing she will not be willing to do," as he wrote down a name on a napkin and stuffed it in Castle's sport coat pocket. "I'll let him know you will be a callin'."

"Good," said Castle. "I've finished my beer and my story and now I will be off."

"Larry see that Mr. Castle gets to a cab. He's right. Detective Beckett is a battle I do not wish to fight."

**At the 12th**

Prior to reaching the station house Kate had received a text from Castle with a name, and despite here bravado in the police cruiser, she was relieved that Castle would be joining her shortly. Entering the Detectives bull-pen area she noticed a lot of activity in the video review room, a couple more FBI types seemed to be here, the nod and small smile from Espo that her know that they had been successful. His glance at the Captain's office forced Kate to look in that direction. She could see the Captain and Inspector Red O'Donnell in a serious discussion. Well the end of shift should be interesting and I won't have to be him separately. Taking a quick glance at her watch, hurry up Castle I do not want to start without you.

Kate took her time stowing her jacket and purse and then headed to the rest room, she dropped by the break room to get a bottle of water, and smiled to herself as she heard the evaluator open and saw Castle rush toward her area. Easily catching up to him she whispered, "How was the beer?"

"Wet," was his only response.

Kate's and Castle's entrance pulled the people out of the video room and the FBI agents out of the small conference room. Kate glanced toward the Captain's office, locked eyes with the Captain nodded and turned back to the murder board. Kate could not help but notice that the crowd had grown a bit. Most of them just wanted to know what is going on.

"Detective," said the Inspector as he turned Castle's chair around to face the board, "let's begin." Kate leaned against her desk and heard Castle say, "Esposito, Ryan how did the data collect at the 'whole sell' shippers' go?"

"We hit each of the four shippers," began Esposito. "For the most part they were cooperative. We came back with hard copies of their Bills of Lading. Agents Adams and Harris scanned them in and I understand the FBI is going to do some analysis on frequency and tonnage?"

"Yes Detective," replied Special Agent Crockett, "I was able to pull in a couple of analysts out of Quantico to do the task. Detective if this keeps up, "chuckled Ty, "you are going to have the entire FBI working your case, and right now I think it's a good think. They promised us answers by tomorrow noon."

"Good," said Kate, "Do we know how much was being released retail?"

"I don't have that number right now," said Agent Adams "but the data is in the spreadsheets. Give me a couple of minutes after we are done here and I will have it."

"What we found out is they picked up from only two long haul freight companies, and the warehouse used them to take material back to the long haul shippers. The Bills did contain the point of origin for the incoming shipments and the final destination for the outgoing. The FBI is tracking those down as we speak."

"Yes we are," confirmed Special Agent Crockett.

"We have warrants and are heading out to the shippers tomorrow," added Ryan. "We need to see if an incoming shipment was only routed to this warehouse or was broken up and distributed to other places. Also we need to see if the point of origin had other shipments coming here." Kate smiled to herself when she noticed that the Team had already updated the murder board with this information.

"Where are the points of origin," asked the Inspector?

"So far we have identified three separate locations, one in California, another in Texas, and another in Florida," replied Esposito. "We really haven't looked any deeper than that. We have been concentrating on the local connection."

"What about the outgoing?" asked Captain Gates.

"Up to about four months ago the outgoing was going offshore," said Agent Adams.

"Does the stoppage correspond to a bank purchase?" asked Castle.

"Probably," said Agent Harris. "One week after one of the banks was purchased, the outflows stopped."

"Tell me about the banks," asked a puzzled inspector.

"Earlier this morning," Agent Harris began, "Castle postulated that the bad guys were getting around the cash flow reporting problem because they owned the bank. We looked and in the NYC area there have been thirteen banks bought within the last year. Five of them went private after purchase, and yes the suspicious timing one is one of the one's that went private. We have passed the bank data to Dr. Woods. She was very interested. She also agreed that Castle's theory would probably work. She is trying to find ways to spot it. We are looking into all of the banks now, but we are concentrating on the one with the suspicious timing."

"Oh Castle, we checked on the armored car service thing, no joy. We still need to look, because if they bought the bank they need an invisible way to transport the money, but the timing thing is probably just as good a pointer."

"Perhaps they have their own armored car," offered Castle.

"Then the parking video…" continued the Agent with a glance at the video review room.

"Uniforms from the 15th dropped off video from three stores that may have a view of the parking area in front of the warehouse," said Captain Gates. "Where are we Detective?"

"We just started. We are building a frequency histogram. The more times a car is there the higher the likelihood that it was used by an employee in the warehouse. Right now we have ten potential license plate numbers. Give us another day and we will pretty sure about the plates and we will run them. I guess we will also look for an armored car in the warehouse trucking bay. "

"Back to the bank for a moment," said Kate. "Surveillance?"

"How would we justify the warrant?" asked Inspector O'Donnell.

"We are looking for an armored car that isn't," offered Castle immediately.

"I can make that work," said Special Agent Crockett. "We are looking for a specific occurrence and not a fishing expedition. That should fly with Judge Graham. That is if you all do not object to the Bureau getting the warrant."

When all eyes went to the Inspector, as the most senior person present, he turned to Detective Beckett and said, "It's your case Detective, do what you think best."

"Yes Sir," she replied. "Make it happen Special Agent, make it happen."

"Yes ma'am" he replied with a grim smile. He hated when senior's passed the buck, and this Inspector had just passed one to Beckett.

"Credit Cards?" prompted Castle.

"Data from all four cards is in Sir, and we will have a target list for you by tomorrow mornings stand-up," replied Agent Harris with a touch of enthusiasm.

"What about the accounts themselves?" asked Detective Beckett?

"These guys are paranoid, through, and Dr. Woods thinks absolutely brilliant," continued Agent Harris. " Each credit card account is tied to a different account in a different bank in a different city. We have already gotten the records. This is where it gets interesting and difficult. At the end of each day all money over one-hundred thousand dollars is transferred offshore. Folks at Treasury have had a little luck in following the trail, but it leads to another well crafted obstacle. At the offshore account, in the morning, if the balance is over the minimum, again one-hundred thousand dollars US, the money is transferred out, and we don't know where yet. They, Treasury, seemed to think that more than these four accounts are being funneled here. Some of them are foreign. Agents at Treasury and Dr. Woods are starting a dialogue with Interpol."

"Needless to say we have pre-briefed Judge Graham and as soon we can tie an account to a drug credit card purchase we can freeze, investigate more deeply, and probably confiscate. Unfortunately the loss of four hundred thousand is probably more of an inconvenience than damage to the organization."

"Do we know how much was being funneled through the accounts?" asked Esposito?

"Not right now. I've only looked at a week weeks of data on one card type, but if I had to guess I would say they are doing five million a week on credit card sales," concluded Agent Harris.

Everyone did the math. Five million a week times, let's say fifty weeks that a quarter billion dollars. Times four cards, that meant the bad guys were doing close to a billion dollars a year on credit card sales alone. That was real money.

"Are any of the banks in NYC?" asked the Inspector.

"Yes Sir," replied Agent Adams. "It is a large Mercantile Bank that specializes in foreign trade, as are the other three. They are in Chicago, San Francisco, and Atlanta. Once the court order hits we will be able to take a very hard look at the accounts, how they got there, how they operates, everything."

"Do they have a Pay Pal connection?"Asked Castle.

"They have a web-site Castle," acknowledged Special Agent Crockett. "My guys tell me it appears to be hosted in Ireland and they are working with the local authorities there. When I know more I'll let you guys know."

Next Castle looked at the sketches and then at Detective Beckett who began the narrative. "This morning we went to the hospital and talked to Officers Sato and Garcia and asked them how this whole thing got started. Officer Sato said that during one of his shifts when he and his partner had station house duty he kept looking through the book of hostiles that may be operating in NYC. As they were on patrol they spotted Sal coming out of the bodega that was on the corner. They followed them in the warehouse and so on. We went back to the bodega and the owner was kind enough to sit down with a sketch artist. I see one has been identified."

"Yes Detective," said Agent Johnson. "He is Simon Martinez. He was born in San Diego, graduated from UCLA and has an MBA. The only reason we have anything on him is that he sued the US Government over a profiling complaint. The other two are not in our system. We are checking state DMV's."

"So we have an intelligent man with a grudge, add in the lure of easy money and he becomes a prime candidate for recruitment," remarked Castle.

"He would be a valuable employee for these guys," agreed Special Agent Crockett.

"We will make copies of his picture and distribute city-wide. When someone sees him we can pick him up for a talk," said Captain Gates.

"Has anyone had a chance to look through the disk the lawyers gave us?" asked Castle?

"I have," said Ryan. "It has some interesting stuff. I'm sure if someone took the time they could use the information on the disk to create a timeline for the creation of the warehouse."

With a glance at Agent Adams, Special Agent Crockett spoke up, "I'll task a couple of more people out of Quantico to do that Detective.

"One of the things of interest that we can use right now," continued Ryan "is the fact that they worked out a corporate car leasing agreement with one of the rental car agencies. Currently they have five cars out, and they will be emailing over copies of the drivers licenses of the people who leased the cars. It would be too much to hope for correct names on the licenses, but at least we will have more pictures to work with."

"We will run them we you get them Detective," affirmed Agent Adams.

Next Castle smiled and began, "Courtesy of the Westees we have a name of an alleged fence, who handled the sale of the phones that the Westees allegedly hijacked to the people in the warehouse."

"I've ran the name by Robbery. They are very interested because he is not even on their radar. They know the Westees are dealing with someone, but so far they have unable to find out whom. Detective Merrill wants to join us when we do the interview." When she said that she saw Castle's jaw tighten a little. A sure sign he disagreed but was not going to broach it in public. "But I don't think it would be a good idea. This one needs to be played gently."

"You have done some good work here Detective," started the Inspector, "But I don't see how you are any closer to finding and taking the distribution center off of the street. Each hour that you spend creating timeliness or tracking down foreign cash flows," he said with a wave of a hand in the FBI's general direction, "is an hour not spent in finding the center. You need to stay focused on the objective Detective. Also there is one line of investigation that you have completely ignored and that is who has the resources to pull something like this off. I am clear?"

"Yes Sir," said Detective Beckett glancing at her Team and silent praying that Castle would remain quite. "We will focus on finding the distribution center and start to look at who might be behind this."

"Good, well than I will let you continue with your plans," said Inspector O'Donnell as he got up and headed toward the elevator, accompanied by Captain Gates.

Kate held up her hand freezing her Team and the FBI in place. As soon as the elevator door had closed Sergeant Kim Jenkins, the Major Crimes liaison spoke up. "Sergeant Beckett you can consider the task of 'looking who might be behind this' delegated to me at Major Crimes and Ted at Narcotics. You guys are pulling on some serious threads; something is bound to break loose. And with the FBI starting to complete some of the analysis tasks, you guys need to be able to react. No you guys continue on, Ted and I will take care of this task."

"Good," said Captain Gates, who had just returned from seeing the Inspector off. "Major Crimes and Narcotics are better suited to handle that task, and I can tell the Inspector that the Team is addressing his concern. And people," continued the Captain in a raised voice, "I know your focus is finding and eliminating the distribution center and the work you are doing now will get you there."

"Thank you Sir," said Detective Beckett, "Right now the plan for tomorrow is continue the video analysis," said Kate looking at the Detectives who had the task, "Ryan and Esposito will get the long hauls shippers data, Castle and I will take a run at some people on the target list and take a swing at the fence. What else oh, the drivers licenses from the car rental agency and ..."

"The FBI will continue the analysis tasks you have given us and establish surveillance for an armored car that isn't," said Special Agent Crockett with a smile.

**Chapter 10 Game Time**

The morning stand-up was brief and to the point. The rental car company had emailed over the drivers license information. Kevin had printed it and forwarded the pictures to the FBI. The FBI had finished some of their analysis tasks, and the results were staggering. They knew how much was coming in and being sold upscale retail, but they were still clueless on how the product to the other wholesale processing centers was being delivered. They suspected by van and car, but had no real proof. The projected amount of cash being generated by this center was huge.

After dispatching the Boys and a pair of Federal Agents to get the data from the long haul shippers, Detective Beckett and Castle meet with the Special Agent Crockett and the other Agents that were a part of Special Agent Crockett's Team and who normally worked at the 12th. "This is great," exclaimed Kate looking over the material. The FBI had done a first class job. Each contact sheet had a name, a photo, work and home addresses and phones, and a listing of the purchases by date, price, as well as the FEDEX or UPS tracking number and weight.

"I know you are light manpower Detective," began Special Agent Crockett, "and I thought my Team could help by talking with some of these folks. I think you can trust us to ask the questions that need to be asked and get the affirmation we seek, and besides we are field agents and this analysis stuff is important but we can only take so much."

Kate looked through the contact sheets and shook her no. When she heard the agents shift in their chairs she realized that she had sent the wrong message. "I'm sorry guys I gave you the wrong signal. I was shaking my head at the waste. Castle and I will take these," she said as she extracted five sheets, "You guys can take the rest."

"Who do we talk to when we get a confirmation that they used their credit card to buy the drugs?" asked Castle.

"Give Agent Hendricks a call. The warrants are pre-briefed on our side for delivery at all of the banks. All we need is one and the dominoes will start to fall. "

Kate had chosen a group and had mentally planned a route, that with luck would let her and Castle eat lunch with her Dad. After that, emergencies notwithstanding, they would confront the fence. At each stop the drama played out in almost identical fashion. First there was denial, then outrage that the police knew, then despair, followed by hope when Kate proposed the deal and then acceptance and finally co-operation. The answer to the question 'How did you find out about the home delivery of drugs?' was as varied as you could imagine and for some reason that bothered Castle.

The last contact sheet was for a midlevel lawyer in a prestigious law firm in the building right next door to where her Dad had his office. As they got off of the elevator and entered the lobby Kate would have sworn the air got noticeably colder. 'I guess they have the air conditioning on' she thought. The reception area was bright and modern. The chairs and divans in the immediate waiting area were made of old hardware and leather in excellent repair. The receptionists were attractive and portrayed the confidence and pose of season veterans. They had seen it all and were unflappable.

"Good morning I am Detective Kate Beckett and this is Mr. Castle we need to see Mr. Adam Lewis please."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, but it is official police business."

"I'm sorry Officer, its company policy that our lawyers do not meet with police or DA in their offices without a Warrant. Please come back when you have one. Or if you like I can make an appointment either here or at precinct, but he is not free for several days."

"I'll wait. It won't take long," said Kate as she pulled out her phone, punched on the speaker and speed dialed. "This is Sergeant Beckett. I need ADA Reynolds please." Kate watched the receptionist eyes widen as she recognized the name of one of the best Prosecutors in the city.

"Kate, always a pleasure. What can I do for you?"

"Tim I need an arrest warrant for a Mr. Adam Lewis. Drug trafficking, it's part of the drug warehouse case."

"Adam? You sure? I know him."

"We have him using his credit card to buy drugs five times in the last four months. We have the FEDEX tracking number for each of the packages that was shipped to his apartment and his signature on the receipts, and considering the weight of each of the shipments is enough to qualify him as a dealer…. Also we have Affidavits from four warehouse customers that they used their credit cards to buy the drugs. Since he does not want to cooperate I'm forced to play hard ball."

"Bad, bad decision on his part. Captain Gates called earlier this morning and said something like this might happen so I pre-briefed Judge Freeman. It will only take a couple of minutes. Where do you want it sent?"

"Faxed to the Station House of course for the paper file and to my phone so that I can show and forward it to the people in the law firm I'm currently visiting."

"They wouldn't let you in would they? Dumb. Is your shadow with you?"

"Yeah, I almost never leave home without him," said Kate with a smile in Castle's direction.

"Good, ….Debora has just finished with Judge Freeman. The Warrant will be on its way shortly. Good hunting Detective."

"Thank you Counselor."

As Kate was putting away her phone she noticed the other receptionist click the button on her wireless headset to terminate her call. She suppressed a smile, the receptionists, aka the dragon guard aka the gate keepers had done their job and summoned reinforcements. Any second now ….

"What is all this rubbish about an Arrest Warrant," exclaimed an exquisitely dressed man in his early sixties as he burst through the double doors to the right of the reception area. Kate recognized Stephen Long as the senior partner of the law firm from his picture in the lobby. Mr. Long seemed to be in reasonable physical shape and of medium height and build, and had clear, piercing brown eyes with a full head of gray hair cut extremely short, almost a military cut.

"I assure you," he continued as he closed in on Detective Beckett and began waving his finger in her face," that no member of my staff would do such a thing. This is preposterous, outrageous…I demand to see the Warrant immediately," he shouted. "I demand…"

"Here," said Castle handing Mr. Long his phone. Kate had become so angry at the confrontation that she did not hear or feel her phone go off. 'Hey' she thought 'what were they thinking sending the Warrant to Castle's phone anyway.'

Mr. Long quieted down, but still remained nonplussed. "Who are you people?" he asked with more than a touch of rancor.

"Since you asked so nicely," started Castle in a voice filled with sarcasm and contempt, "This is Sergeant Katherine Beckett. As you can tell from her shield, she is a Detective in the NYPD. I am Mr. Richard Castle and sometimes I serve as a Consultant for the NYP. What you have in your hand is a warrant for the arrest of one Adam Lewis. Either lead us to him or get out of the way."

Inwardly Kate winched at Castle's tone of voice. She knew he was just reacting to Mr. Long's verbal assault and he felt the need to protect her. She loved him for it. Still sometimes it was best to let it slip by, but on the other hand if she had to endure another moment of that… she probably would have decked him.

In a moment Mr. Long recovered. "I will take you to see him," he said pointing at Beckett. "You…you stay in the lobby."

"You sure that's wise Sir?" Kate asked sweetly. "Whenever I leave my partner alone like this strange things happen. I mean trouble seems to find him. An escaped criminal, a hostage situation, it's always something. I'm not worried about him you understand, but I am concerned for your people." When Mr. Long continued to stare at Kate she continued, "Castle do you have your baton?"

"Yes of course," replied Castle patting his right suit jacket pocket, enjoying the game they were playing.

"Good keep it ready, but here take this," said Kate as she reached down pulled out her backup weapon still in its holster off of her ankle and stuffed it in Castle's other jacket pocket, being sure that the safety was on. "Just in case. And yes Counselor, Castle does have a concealed carry permit for exactly this weapon. Now shall we. I have a criminal to arrest."

"What should I tell your Dad about lunch?" asked Castle right before they exited through the double doors to the left of the reception area.

"I'll be five minutes if Adam wants' to be a fool, forty-five if he's smart. So let's say an hour."

"Kate I'm kind of hungry."

"Castle," exclaimed Kate as turned and exited through the doors.

Castle ignored the look of astonishment of the faces of the receptionists as he slightly rearranged the chair so that he could easily see the entry way into the office and the doors Kate left through. He had no doubt that she would be at least an hour. After he called Jim and confirmed that they would meet in the lobby of his building in about an hour and fifteen minutes for a quick lunch, Castle settled back into his chair and smiled for a moment. 'A little role-playing makes life enjoyable,' thought Castle. 'Especially since the SOB deserved it. Now to write up his notes this would make a great scene.'

When Rick and Kate finally collected Jim in his lobby he explained that a meeting had popped up, and he would have to cut lunch short and suggested the lunch cart. Since James had been born, Jim had become a frequent and recurring guest at the Loft. Now he came over every Sunday afternoon, stated for dinner and left after James had been put down for the night. Castle noticed that Jim seemed a little grayer, but much happier. The only downside was all the baseball talk. Not that he minded it much, it just that he was a basketball person.

At the lunch cart he was not surprised to find Mike. "Hey Mr. C, what can I get for you?

"The usual for me and Kate." When he saw Mike look up and his face go a little rigid he glanced back. "Oh don't mind the man making out with my wife, that's her father."

"Castle!" Kate exclaimed. 'But she had to admit it was funny and the description did fit. She and her Dad had been walking with arms around each other's waist, and her Father had just pulled her in for a hug and a kiss on her forehead.'

"The usual for me too Mike," said Jim with a laugh and a smile.

"Mr. Beckett is Kate's Dad? Well of course he is," said Mike as he smiled and started preparing their dogs. "You learn something new every day. Mr. C I thought about what you asked the other day. There are two carts located on corners that I would never consider. Perhaps you should look there."

"These aren't carts of your rivals are they Mike?" asked Castle.

"No, the only rival I've got is Tom. We've been rivals for twenty-five years." Castle knew that the 'Mike and Tom' rivalry was a shame. They were the best of friends and neighbors, despite the insults they hurled at each other.

"Ok," said Castle, "Give me the corners again."

After they had grabbed their food, they retreated to a nearby bench and as they eat the Beckett's quickly retreated into discussing the upcoming baseball season and when they should take James to his first game. Castle tuned them out and began wondering where is father was. Did he know he had married Kate? If he was still alive? Did he know that he had a grandson? Would he ever see him again?

"Castle,….Castle!" said Kate in a forceful voice. "It's about time to go. Where we you?"

"I was just thinking about my Dad," Castle responded in a soft voice touched with pain.

Kate reached and grabbed his hand.

"Sorry, son," said Jim.

"It's Ok," said Castle, his voice strengthening. "This way James gets to know at least one of his grandfathers. It sounds like you guys are going to need another season ticket for next year. Right?"

With handshakes and hugs the lunchtime meeting broke-up. Jim went back to make his meeting with his client, and the Castles went to meet a fence.

When Tom Callahan, the fence, had suggested meeting at an outdoor bistro near a park at a little after one, Detective Beckett was hesitant, but Castle was adamant that it would be ok. In fact the choice of the meeting location impressed Castle. He, himself had used it in the past. It was open so you could see who was coming. The late lunch crowd would provide enough cover for the meeting so the party could easily blend in, and the background noise would make directional microphones problematical. The meeting place was two blocks away from the subway, and there were taxi stands less than four blocks away in all directions. So there were amply escape routes. To cover them all would require a sizeable force. 'We are dealing with a professional,' thought Castle. 'No wonder Robbery has not caught on to him yet.'

They knew they were a couple of minutes early, but it shouldn't matter surmised Castle. 'This guy has been here for at least a half-hour already being sure we are not laying a trap for him.'

As they appreciated the bistro a thin man in a blue-gray raincoat at one of the outside tables stood up "Mr. and Mrs. Castle what a surprise, come please join me, can I get you something?"

"Two coffees," said Castle to the approaching waiter as he held a chair for Kate.

"It has been awhile hasn't it Tom," said Kate sweetly.

Leaning in and lowering his voice to a whisper. "He said that you were a looker, and he was right. He also said you were a huntress that should not be crossed for any reason, and when it comes to assessments like that I tend to take him at his word. He also said that your husband would do his best to beat me to a pulp if he thought I was a danger to you. And I am inclined to believe him on that too. But before we start what are the ground rules Detective?"

"We weren't followed, nor have we ordered or are we operating any type of audio or video surveillance," said Kate, "so you need not worry about that. The ground rules are simple. I am offering transactional immunity for the entire chain of events for the hijacking and sell of the stolen material. Should any of the events even see the light of day."

"He also talked about a favor."

"He hasn't asked, and I have not answered. But he also knows my limits," replied Kate in a voice full of steel.

"Well it looks like my favor will be very small," chuckled Tom "because I don't know much."

After the waiter had finished delivery the coffees and Castle covered the tab Tom began.

"It was a blind sale. They called me and offered a finder's fee. I had a hunch who hijacked the shipment. I made some calls. Then I arraigned for payment and delivery, half upfront and half on delivery. The arrangement was a blind drop. The seller parked four vans in a parking garage, and extracted the rest of the payment out of a bag hidden in the trash bin. I assumed that the buyer emptied the vans and returned them to the procurer. As I heard no complaint's, I'm sure everything went smoothly. No I don't know what parking garage. If the procure suggested it, you can be sure it does not have camera coverage. "

"Nice," said Castle. "The buyer is banking on your reputation as a deal broker, and they know where you live. The seller has no risk, because he is getting his money as he is turning over the merchandize, and the seller needs you for future deals. The phone call probably can't be tracked because it either came from or was received by a disposable phone."

With a nod the fence continued, "Are we good Detective?"

"Yes. One question though. Why did you take this meeting?"

"Client satisfaction," laughed Tom "Without them I am out of business. Why don't we leave together then we can go our separate ways." With a nod, Kate waited for Castle to reach for the back of her chair.

When Detective Beckett and Castle arrived back at the 12th they could tell that something was wrong. The confident hustle and bustle and hope that had been evident at the mornings meeting had been replaced by something, and Kate could not put her finger on it. Kate stowed her purse and jacket, as Castle got coffees for them. 'It's nice to have a gopher,' thought Kate, 'and this one comes with benefits' she smiled. She was just starting to sitting down when Ryan rushed up.

"Kate, we uploaded the driver's license pictures we got from the car rental agency. The FBI does not have them in the system."

"That's something. That means's that they are using clean personal for this operation."

As they were standing there Agent Adams approached. "We have had a couple of other things go wrong today too. Not the interviews, they went like clockwork. We got all of the affidavits we need. The problem occurred when we called Agent Hendricks with the go-ahead to shut down and seize the accounts. It appears that they were terminated yesterday. Almost like they knew we were coming."

"Perhaps," suggested Castle, "the bad guys know we have taken over one of their centers and are beginning their cut and run procedures."

"Maybe," agreed Agent Adams."But the timing is suspicious."

"Agreed," admitted Castle. "There is something else isn't there?"

"Yes, they moved the website to a server in Georgia."

"Soviet Union Georgia?" asked Kate.

"Yes," responded the Agent.

"And….", asked Castle.

"Your armored car that isn't, is," replied the agent with a pained expression, "and we lost it…..I know you are going to ask how could we lose a whole armored car."

"I was," admitted Castle, "Then I thought better of it. I assume measures are in place to prevent this from happening again?"

"Yes Sir," the Agent confirmed, "but if we could have followed it back…."

"I know," interjected Detective Becket, "On the plus side we know they are moving the cash locally, and not shipping it out, like they may have done in the past. This confirms a lot of things. And now we have a bank firmly in our financial cross hairs."

"Yes we do," confirmed the Agent, "We are looking into who bought it, and how they operate, but that could take time. Ok for us, but bad for you. Your Inspector was pretty clear of what your objectives should be."

"I know," replied Detective Beckett in a flat voice. "I know."

"And the long haul shippers aren't doing us any favors," interjected a sour faced Esposito. "They said they need at least seventy-two hours to give us the data. If they are part of the operation, which gives them time to massage the data, or warn the people to move the material, or both. Any luck with the fence?"

Detective Beckett looked at Castle and nodded, "It was a complete bust," said Castle. "He did describe their tradecraft and it sounds excellent. No wonder Robbery is having trouble catching this guy. I'll drop my notes describing the fence's tradecraft to Robbery, but I don't think it will help, because there really aren't any observables."

"But you got a name and a description," countered Ryan.

"An alias no doubt, but maybe traceable on the street, but what do we describe?" asked Detective Beckett with a look at Castle.

"Let me see," said Castle. "We could say he dressed like a business man and wore a wig."

"That he wore eye color changing contacts," added Kate.

"That he wore elevator shoes," continued Castle.

"That he had a fake tattoo on the back of his left hand," added Kate. "Bottom line we have a medium build, medium height white guy, somewhere between twenty-five and forty-five years old with unknown hair and eye color and no distinguishing marks or features. Oh, and he spoke like a native New Yorker."

'Oh hell,' thought Kate 'I might as well start the end of day early. This way nothing new can ambush us.'

"Ok people," she announced, "Since we got everybody, let's run through what we learned."

Of all of the material presented, the only thing that brightened the day was Castle pushing forward the theory that some of the lunch carts were also selling drugs. When he suggested that a couple of locations couldn't be that profitable Sergeant Johns said he would look into it. The plans for tomorrow were vague, update the paperwork, let the research crunch, and review and think about alternate approaches.

Before they left for home, Kate marched Castle down to the gym and put him through his paces. Those Officers that were around when they sparred remarked among themselves that two people could not be more in synch or evenly matched, and if either one had a baton in their hand, well they would just get out of their way. Their strikes, counters, and counter-strikes flowed fast and furious, and the beauty of the 'match' was impossible to ignore. The match came to end when after a long series of quick moves and twists Castle came up lame with a grimace on his face.

"You ok?" asked Kate as she lowered her weapon and came close.

"I'm fine," confirmed Castle as his baton came up and gently touched Kate's shoulder. "It's just that I was getting tired, and the tigress I'm sparing with is relentless. I thought I needed to distract her in order to score a point."

"You," screamed Kate as she slapped Castle hard on his chest, "are a cheat."

"I very tired cheat," confirmed Castle. "Can we go home now?"

None of the Officers present dared laugh, at least not until they were sure that Detective Beckett was in the woman's locker room.

On the way home Kate agreed when Castle suggested they stop and get Chinese from their favorite place. One of the things that they had learned early on was that James loved egg drop soup, and he expected some each time he saw the white cartons.

Kate admired and was slightly envious of Castle's ability to shift gears. It only took him a second to leave the precinct behind and become Dad the novelist. It took her a little bit longer to shrug off the mantle of a Police Officer and don the mantle of Mother and Wife. But no matter how bad the day had been seeing her 'two men' together always made her smile, and the scene before her was no exception. James was sitting in his high chair and his hands were banging on the tray. Castle was carrying on a monologue, as usual, as he was setting the table. Finally James had had enough, "..arfugh…." he shouted. The subtext was clear 'enough already Dad, feed me I'm hungry.'

Kate hurried over sat next to her son and open the jar of strained beef and carrots. At first James shook his head. "Hey there, a little bit of this then some soup," responded Kate.

"..bwre.." 'Deal' as James opened his mouth for the food.

Dinner over, dishes vanquished, the Castles' settled into their domestic routine. Tonight James was with Castle in his office, 'probably acting as his dialogue couch again', thought Kate with a smile. She was surprised when she heard them quickly come out of his office.

"I think James is an action junkie," said Castle with a smile. "I am working on the Mayor's book and he let me know that he was not happy." When James reached out for her she put down her reader and scooped him up and settled him in comfortably. "You're getting almost too big to sit with me James. Pretty soon you are going to need your own chair." Kate gave Castle a smile has he handed her the book reader and leaned in to give his wife a kiss on her check, and with a gentle touch for James, Castle headed back to his office.

Back to your day job, mused Kate. "Now then where was I? Ah Yes, The car hurtled down…" She was surprised when a scant forty-five minutes later Castle rejoined them.

"I finished the chapter, and annotated the outline for the final two chapters," he offered when Kate fixed him with her gaze. "How's he doing?"

"Why don't you take him and get him ready. He's been struggling to keep his eyes open."

"..drouu…." James yawned.

When Castle returned without James, Kate turned off her and put down her book reader, rose and hugged her husband. "Music soft, lights low, meet me at the fireplace, and I'll get us something to drink," she whispered. For the remainder of the evening, everything that needed to be said was said with a gentle touch and a soft sigh.

**Chapter 11 The Value of Homework and Friends**

"Detective Beckett," yelled Desk Sergeant Murdock, "They want you down at the Plaza, Room 368 now."

"Why? Does the Captain know?"

"Don't know, and yes," replied the Sergeant with a smile. "You had better scoot Sergeant."

As Kate turned and headed toward the door, "Castle there is no need for you to come with me. I don't know what this is about. It's probably just some press release thing."

"That's Ok, I'll just head across the street. I need to remind Bob that I still don't have the pictures, for the picture section of the book, and I need to talk Dave, the Mayor's Chief of Staff, about some other material. You can text me when you are done."

When Kate entered Room 368 she was surprised that it was configured like a hearing room. At the 'Head' table were four people two male and to female. At the table opposite was a man dressed in a coat and tie. He had gotten up and was headed her way, and to the left of the Head table appeared to be four reporters. She recognized two of them from the time she had spent working for the Chief of Detectives.

"Detective Beckett? Hi, I'm Jim Pinson. I'm your Union Representative."

"Union Rep? What for? What is this all about?"

"This is your Civilian Review Board Hearing for the civilian involved shooting that took place a couple of days ago."

"Why wasn't I notified?" asked Kate.

"You weren't?" asked Jim.

"No," said Kate.

"Now that the Detective is finally here," said a woman from the head table with a glance at the press and a voice full of contempt. "We can begin. I am Nancy Caruthers and I will be chairing this session. The other panel members are Aaron Smith, Mike Taltson, and Jeff Tobias. Today we are investigating the incident where Sergeant Katherine Beckett did carless and reckless discharge her weapon and grievously an upstanding member of our city, Mr. Richard Castle."

"Now wait a minute," said Kate. "I freely admit that Castle got hit by one of the pellets from one of the shots I took with the shotgun. But those shots were well placed. There was nothing careless and reckless about them. And Castle was not grievously wounded."

"There," smiled Nancy with a bit a glee in her voice, "she has admitted to shooting Mr. Castle. And Mr. Castle was hospitalized as a result of the incident. Our job is to protect the City in case Mr. Castle decides to seek damages and to get dangerous Officers off of the street."

"Castle would never," blurted Kate. After taking a couple of deep breaths in an attempt to regain some composure Kate continued. "As I said, one pellet of one of my shots did hit Castle, but I did not act in a reckless and careless manner. I would do nothing to endanger my partner."

"Have you had contact with Mr. Castle since the shooting?"

'You can say that,' smiled Kate to herself remembering the feeling they had shared after their lovemaking session in front of the fireplace. "Yes," responded Kate. "Daily in fact. After all he is my …partner." 'She doesn't know we are married. This could be interesting.'

"Well those have to stop until we resolve the issue and we are sure that there are no repercussions for the City."

'Try to separate us and I will show you repercussions' thought Kate.

"Ok," said Kate. "Castle was hit, but I did not discharge my weapon in a reckless or dangerous manner," asserted Kate.

"You shot, he was wounded. What else is there?" stated Nancy.

Turning toward Jim Kate pulled out her phone and texted. "Rm 368, I need U."

"What are you doing" asked Jim in a quiet voice.

"I've called for reinforcements," said Kate, "the biggest gun that I know of."

Castle had just browbeat Dave into giving him ten minutes with the Mayor when Kate's text came. Upon reading it he immediately bolted out of the office and hurried as fast as he could to Kate. Entering the room Castle saw Kate standup and hold out her hands. As Kate pulled him into an embrace, something she had never done while wearing her Shield, he heard a woman from the front table say, "Sir this is a closed hearing. I think you had better leave."

In his ear he heard Kate whisper, "I'd say this is a witch hunt, but you just heard her speak."

"No he is the right place Mrs. Caruthers," said Kate as she backed away and finally let go of his hand. "This is Mr. Richard Edgar Castle. This is man you said was grievously wounded by my reckless and careless action. And the man I must stay away from until this is resolved no matter how long it takes." Kate saw Castles eyes narrow, his face harden, and she heard the snarl in her mind that she associated with a very pissed off Castle. 'I almost pity her' Kate thought.

Castle turned his gaze away from Kate's eyes, contemplated the Head Table, glanced at the press then back at the Head Table and then he pounced. "This is a Civilian Review Board investigating the Detective Beckett shooting event is it not Mrs. Caruthers?"

"Yes it is, and I will be asking the questions here."

"And it is the Board's duty to get to the truth of matter is it not?"

"yes , and to recommend punishment for the guilty Mr. Castle."

Nodding, Castle turned away for the Head Table for a moment Castle and walked over to the Press contingent. "Hi Susan, how's Sarah. She having fun in pre-school?"

"Yes she is Rick. She is keeping me on my toes. How's James?"

Kate had to smoother a laugh when Castle replied, "I'm using him as my dialogue coach."

Laughing Susan relied, "that is good to know."

"Hi Mike, has Tom selected a major yet."

"Yeah, it's called professional student. How's Alexis?"

"Still focused, thank God."

"Rick thanks for the Knicks tickets," said Todd. "My Dad and I certainly enjoyed the game."

"You're welcome. My wife," said Castle with a fond glance back at Kate, "reminded me that I had a previous engagement."

"Some engagement, court-side."

"Well I have some wife."

Walking over to the last person Castle addressed a young blond woman in her early twenties, with very short but stylishly cut hair, and a body that had curves in all the right places and a very very pleasant face. 'Down boy' thought Kate. "I don't know you."

"I'm Nancy  
Goodknight," she replied "I just took the downtown beat for the 'Gleaner'."

"Nice to meet you Nancy. I would be careful around this lot. They've been known to lead young one's astray."

"Now that we have played 'Meet the Press', can we get back to the hearing."

"Speaking of the Press," said Castle turning back toward the Head Table, "I'm reasonably sure that the Press is prohibited from meetings of this type."

"I'm sure that is just guidance and can be overruled by the Chair. Which in this case is me."

"I see," said Castle. "I'm also sure the book of polices that governs this meeting is supposed to be present."

"He's right," said Mike Taltson, one of the panel members.

"I must have forgotten it. Well if there is any question we can always send for it. Is there anything else Mr. Castle?" demanded Mrs. Caruthers in a stilted tone.

"Lot's actually, and thanks for asking. To begin have you read Detective Beckett's narrative on this incident?"

"There is always material left out of those reports," countered Mrs. Caruthers.

"Probably true," conceded Castle, "but you did not answer the question. Have you read Detective's Beckett's narrative on this incident?"

"You know those reports always put the writer of the report in the best light."

"Also true, but you still haven't asked the question. Have you read Detective's narrative on the incident?"

"In my experience, the report writer takes extreme liberties with the facts," replied Mrs. Caruthers.

"Watch it Mrs. Caruthers. You do know that falsifying a police report is a felony and you came mighty close to saying that Detective Beckett falsified her report. You need to be careful. This is an Administrative hearing and not a Judicial Proceeding, so any type of slanderous comment could be actionable. No I take that back. You have still not said you read the Detective's narrative."

"So has any member of the panel read the narrative?" asked Castle in an exacerbated tone of voice.

"I did not know one existed," said Aaron Smith with an unfriendly glance at Nancy.

"I did not distribute it because I thought it was incomplete," said Nancy.

"Then you have read it," said Castle.

"Well I … No" admitted Nancy.

"So you haven't read the Officer's version of the events, and you have deliberately decided not to distribute the official Police Report on the event to this Panel. That means you and they know nothing of the tactical situation. You don't know the geometry of the shooting. You haven't done any preparation work at all."

"We know that a cop shot a civilian that is all we need to know."

"That a cop shot a civilian is what is required to convene this Panel. It is still up to the Panel to determine if the Officer acted rashly or irresponsibly. How were you planning to determine that Mrs. Caruthers? Tarot cards? In the hallway I saw no witnesses. I, at least, should have been called. I see no affidavits on your table. …. How were you planning to determine the outcome Mrs. Caruthers? It appears you have done no homework at all."

"I don't like your attitude Mr. Castle. I will have you know that the Mayor himself appointed me to this position."

"And with his help I'm writing Bob's biography and an assessment of his performance as Mayor of this City, "countered Castle. "We have devoted two chapters to his appointees and the great job they have done. Funny your name never came up. I tell you what; I will ask him when he comes over for dinner on Thursday."

"It's a week from this Thursday Rick," corrected Kate.

"You sure Kate?" asked Castle as he turned to look at his wife.

"I'm sure. Bob needed to move it back a week. I'm pretty sure I told you yesterday at breakfast."

"Ok, and another thing Mrs. Caruthers, did you tell Detective Beckett that she had to stop seeing me?"

"Yes it is inappropriate until this situation is resolved."

"Well that's not going to happen. For you see Detective Beckett is my wife and if you think I am going to let some bitty on a panel interfere …."

"Castle!" interjected Kate.

"Right! That is another thing you would have known if you had done your homework. Detective Kate Beckett is also Mrs. Richard Castle," said Castle looking back at Kate. After walking toward Detective Beckett for a couple of steps he turned and faced the Head Table. "Ok folks I'm going to briefly describe the events and the shooting geometry. So listen up,"

"When we entered the warehouse we heard voices threatening Officers Sato and Garcia. We advanced toward the voices. We heard the bad guys shoot the Officers. Advancing further we saw the bad guys and the downed Officers. When Kate identified herself the bad guys spread out two to our left and one to our right. Detective Becket did not have a shot because she might have hit the downed Officers. I immediately moved to my right and started moving toward the bad guy on the right. Detective Beckett fired twice a couple of seconds apart to keep the bad guy's head down."

"Now let me describe the aisle. It was at least ten feet thick and composed of boxes and wooden creates and at least twenty feet tall and in most cases thirty. How a single shot gun pellet managed to ping-pong its way through that maze of boxes, ricochet off of the floor and hit me in the back of the leg still amazes me. It must have been a zillion to one shot. Detective Beckett had to place her shots carefully. She did not want to hit the helpless Officers, and she didn't, nor did she want to outright kill the bad guy just yet. We still hoped we could subdue them. So in my opinion Detective Beckett did not discharge her weapon in a rash or irresponsible manner."

"In fact I didn't even know I was hit. The Doctor suggested that upon impact the pellet did not breach the vein. He postulated that the pellet acted like a saw and all of the work I did afterwards caused the pellet to saw into the vein and finally breach it."

"As you said Mr. Castle, you are Detective Beckett's husband and what you said must be evaluated in that light."

"Careful there Mrs. Caruthers you are going to need facts not opinions in order to impeach my testimony and since the only two people present in this room who were at the warehouse are Kate and I, where are you going to get them? Another thing," said Castle as he turned to face and lock eyes with Kate. "I would love for the Board to recommend 'Days Off' for Kate. At least for those days I would not have to worry about her coming home in one piece. We would not have our home life disrupted by late night or early morning phone calls telling us that there has been a homicide. Unfortunately I don't think her actions warrant such treatment."

"Earlier you said you were worried about repercussions of me being shot by a NYC PD Officer. What actions I might take against the City correct?"

"Yes, we need to be sure that the damage to the City is minimized."

"If you would have done your homework about me you would have found out that the agreement I signed with the as a condition for me being allowed to shadow Detective Beckett prevents me from suing the City should I got hurt while being her shadow. So there will be no financial repercussions."

"So let me try to sum up the situation. This Civilian Review Board did not review the Officers statement on the event, did not research the relationship between the NYP Detective and the civilian that was injured, scheduled no witnesses or obtained and pre-hearing testimony, and did not research the civilian's special status with the City. As far as I can tell the only that the Board did is schedule a meeting and invite the press, and they should not have been called."

After a long silence, "I agree with you," said Mike Taltson, "that Detective Beckett's actions do not warrant days off, but they cannot go unnoticed. What do you suggest?"

Kate had to suppress a smile when Castle turned to her and had that certain gleam in his eye. It quickly faded as he did a reality check. "Safety Course?" he offered.

"If I may," said Jim Pinson, "I would suggest that the Board recommend that Officer Beckett recomplete the shotgun safety course and range test, and that she describe the event at the Precinct's Captain's Quarterly. For me there is nothing more intimidating and humbling task than having to stand-up before your peers and describe how you screwed up."

"I think we can live with that," said Mike Taltson. When Mrs. Caruthers saw the rest of the Board nod in approval, she announced, "So Ordered. This Board is concluded."

After the 'Chairs' announcement, Jim Pinson watched Detective Beckett and Castle handle the reporters with an easy style and grace. Castle is a famous author so he must have done a million interviews, and I guess some of that rubbed off on Kate. From a PR perspective he was relieved when he heard Detective Beckett say, "I can live with the Board's recommendations, but I must admit I don't like the path we travelled to reach them." 'No problems here' he thought. I had better inform Captain Gates of the results of the hearing.

When Mr. Pinson informed the Captain that he had been Detective Beckett's Union Rep at her Civilian Review Board hearing she was upset that no one had informed her. Like Kate she had assumed that the early morning meeting notice was case related and considering the room number, something to deal with a press release. She became furious when he told her it started out as a witch hunt. She calmed down a lot when Mr. Pinson told her Castle had arrived and made the panel realize that his getting hit was a zillion to one shot, and from his perspective there would not be repercussions. She approved of the Board's recommendations; recertification with the shotgun was a pro forma matter and would probably cost Kate an hour at most. Having Detective Beckett brief the incident at the Quarterlies would not hurt hers or Beckett's reputation. But the Captain came completely unglued when Mr. Pinson mentioned the Press.

Castle maintained a running dialogue of small talk with the reporters as they rode the elevator down to the first floor and exited the building. Safely strapped in the cruiser, Kate started the engine and then paused before she placed the car in gear. "Castle do you really worry about me?"

"Kate I….," started Castle as he half turned to face his wife and immediately got lost in her eyes, again.

"I…I love you too," she stammered for the both of them. "You know, if we weren't in a Police Cruiser and about to go into traffic, I would kiss you," she said repeating Castle's words from a couple of days ago.

"I'll take it as an IOU," said Castle with a smile. "And speaking of IOU's, did I ever repay mine?"

"Nope," replied Kate immediately, "and with the interest rate you owe me kisses for the next hundred years."

"I can live with that," said Castle in a soft voice.

"Me too," said Kate in an even softer one. "And what were you thinking when Mr. Taltson asked for suggestions?" asked Kate with a hint of a laugh.

Kate started to blush, then began giggling when Castle had finished whispering in her ear. "We'll see," she replied. The trip back to the 12th was uneventful.

Kate nodded to Castle when he grabbed her coffee cup as she continued stowing her jacket and purse. A quick check of the board revealed one new avenue of investigation. 'How did the customer know to call the warehouse for their drugs?' She and Castle had asked that question or a variant thereof of each of the people they interviewed yesterday and had gotten a variety of answers. Perhaps with more people getting questioned we can find a pattern. A quick scan of the board revealed that the parked cars in front of the warehouse were part of the rentals set-up by the law firm and the FBI still had not identified the people from the bogus driver's licenses the car leasing place had sent over. Beside the bank was a notation 'Stepping Stone, LLC - Vancouver' ah, that is who bought the bank, surmised Kate. 'Even though it is foreign, still probably not much additional red tape because the buyer is Canadian' thought Kate. After yesterday it is probably under a number of microscopes.

When Castle returned with her coffee he had Esposito, Ryan, and Special Agent Crockett in tow. "Another valid avenue," Detective Beckett said with a nod toward the murder board.

"After reading your notes from yesterday it seems like a good idea to investigate, considering we are still in wait mode for some things."

"I sent my guys out to do the rest of the interviews," said Special Agent Crockett. "I don't expect much, maybe we can combine a couple of tidbits and get something useful. If we can find out how they advertise we can listen in and raid there place of business. I also talked with Sergeant Johns on the lunch cart thing. He doesn't have the manpower, so I've tasked some of my guys to do some surveillance. I know it's a shot in the dark, and at the end of the distribution chain at that, but I've got the resources, and some of my people are becoming action starved… "

No one paid attention to Castle as he answered his phone. "Gino," he said his eyes searched for Kate's "This is a surprise…..Yes I'm at the 12th….Yes Detective Beckett is here, Detectives Esposito and Ryan as well and some of…ah out of town guests….Speaker? …. You sure?... Ok you are on speaker," said Castle as he laid the phone down on the desk. "Go ahead."

"Ricky, Katie..."

"I told you never to call me that," snapped Detective Beckett.

"My apologies Detective Beckett. I forgot. Guys we need to talk and I'm glad your out of town guests, aka the Feds, are listening in person. I would hate for them to have to wait for the transcript, because I am calling from a phone I'm pretty sure they have tapped and in an office which they probably have a bug." Kate was amused when she saw Special Agent Crockett's eye widen in surprise, and then narrow again in recognition.

"We are all listening," said Kate.

"First of all, this drug warehouse thing does not belong to any of my alleged business associates. In fact as you can imagine some of them are actually rooting for you guys. Some of them," continued Gino, "asked me why the NYPD would assign a Homicide to this investigation. I told them that when you hunt big game you need a big game hunter. In this case a huntress and Detective Beckett filled the bill. Some of them have gone so far as to suggest that I, being civic minded and all, find a way to help you guys."

"You are all heart Gino," laughed Castle.

"You know it Ricky. As I was saying they asked me to help so I made some calls. I found out that you guys had a little co-operation problem with some of the long haul shippers."

"Yeah we did," said Kate.

"Well that problem is resolved. If you go back out there today you will get everything you asked for. I don't think it answers the question you want answered, but it will probably help."

"Thanks Gino, we appreciate that," said Kate.

"Rick," said Gino in a deadly serious tone that neither Kate nor Rick had heard before, "I understand that there is a new auto collector in town. He is looking for a mechanic to fix a car that was driven by a female detective and her spouse. And the money they are offering is very tempting, even to the guys I use to keep my fleet of vehicles up and running."

"Let's hope the new collector doesn't ruin the labor market," said Castle in a steady voice that did not betray his feelings. "Any idea on who the new collector is? I think I would like to meet him. It sounds like he may have an interesting story."

"Afraid not. I think you are going to have to make your own introduction."

"That's ok interesting people are normally tough to find."

"That's all Ricky, good luck."

"Thanks Gino…"

"…Say hello to Crystal for me," added Kate.

The room was silent for a moment. "Alexis and Martha," said Castle looking at Kate.

With a nod Kate reached for her phone.

Silently they watched Castle call-up the alarm system for the Loft, access the log, and turn on all of the extra features that he had added since the 3XK affair. When Castle completed his task he looked at Kate.

"They texted back that they understood."

"You have a code word," asked Special Agent Crockett with a touch of awe in his voice.

"Yes," said Castle. "Paris."

"Looks like you two inherited some babysitters," said Captain Gates.

"Captain," Kate began but stopped when Castle held up his hand.

"Esposito," said Castle, "You said the alarm system was state of the art. How many do you think are installed in warehouses?"

"Too many…"

"With call back numbers that are not back to the security system provider?" added Kate.

"…Damn, I'll check."

"And I'll check with the other security system providers," said Ryan as he scrambled to his chair.

"Hopefully it's a small number and we use the shipping data to help us narrow it down even further," said Kate.

"Can it be that simple?" Special Agent Crockett asked in a soft voice. "I mean that is a prime indicator and we missed it."

"If it is an indicator, it will work for only a little while. Once they learn that we are using that, they will go back to the traditional way with physical guards."

"Or they might risk it and let the number go back to the service provider with a call forward to them," added Kate. "If the shotgun blast had not burst some of the boxes, we would have never known what was in the warehouses."

"I need to make some phone calls," said the Special Agent.

With a glance at Esposito and Ryan, Castle turned to Detective Beckett and said, "I guess it's our turn to go get the long haul shippers data."

As Kate was reaching for her purse Captain Gates said, "I can't let you do that Detective."

"Sir?" replied Kate.

"At least not until you retake the shotgun course and I think now would be a perfect time. Don't you?"

"Yes Sir," said Kate resignedly.

"Captain would it be possible to get a Blue and White to take me to get the shippers information?"

"Possible yes, necessary no. I will take you myself. He is car broken isn't he Detective?"

"Yes Sir. Just don't let him roll the window down too far or he will put his head out, oh and slap his hand any time it comes near the radio or any of the other buttons," said Kate with the beginnings of a smile.

"Ready Castle?" asked the Captain.

"Sir, in the light of what you heard, do you think it's safe to travel with me?"

"The mechanic is looking for a white man and white woman. One of us doesn't quite fit the description. You agree? Ready?"

'Two jokes in one day. Perhaps the Captain is human after all' "Ready Sir" replied Castle.

After they had settled into the Captain's car and headed out into traffic Captain Gates began, "Mr. Castle I've been meaning to thank you for the work you did in saving the two Officers lives."

"Thank you Sir. I just wish it wasn't necessary. They are going to be alright and we did find out about the drug warehouse."

"Also I don't think you need to worry about what will happen when the Mayor leaves office. You and Beckett had built up a great reputation and a lot of good will. So as long as you don't screw-up big time you can probably stay on."

"It's mostly Beckett Sir," said Castle, "and Esposito and Ryan are pretty good in their own right."

"Yes I know. I think I've got the best squad of Detectives in the City, and whether I like it or not Mr. Castle you seem to have become a contributing member of the Team. Oh and thank you for what you did at the Board hearing."

"If someone thinks I'm going to let someone railroad Kate….Sir?"

"It's Ok Castle," said the Captain. As soon as they had entered on the express way, the Captain had turned on her police lights, moved into the left lane, and had accelerated. "This is official Police business. The Chef says I should get out of the office and spend more time with the troops in the field, but minimize the time I'm out of the office," she laughed. "Besides I just like to drive fast."

Castle was amazed at the size of the freight facility. It had fifty-six bays and at least two thirds of them occupied with trailers, and the yard was filled with tractors and trailers bearing various company names. To his right he could see the cranes of the docks and he knew a rail yard was less than a mile away. An ideal location, he thought and a bee-hive in springtime would not be busier.

As they entered the terminal they were met by a medium height gentleman with a husky build in his early thirties wearing jeans, a blue checkerboard plaid shirt, work boots and carrying a clipboard. "Hi, I'm Tom Henry the Terminal Manager, sorry about the mix-up yesterday. It's just that the shipping business is very competitive and we were, it seems, unnecessarily worried about our data falling into the hands of our competitors."

"I'm Captain Gates and this is Mr. Castle and we can assure that the data will only be used in the pursuit of a criminal investigation and will not be distributed to anyone else."

Castle noticed Tom react to both their names. "Isn't it unusual for a Precinct Captain to make a house call?" asked Mr. Henry.

"Yes," the Captain replied without any hesitation. "This is an important case and I thought this pickup required my personal attention."

"Well ok," Tom temporized. "We have the data you requested," he said pointing at four rather large boxes. "Inbounds from the originating terminal, the shipments to the warehouse, and the out-bounds from the warehouse. It doesn't answer the question the Detectives asked yesterday though. None of the inbounds from the originating terminal were broken up and shipped to two different locations. …. I don't need to tell you do I that we don't really know what is in the boxes. We trust that the originator has labeled it properly. All we care about is how many cubes and how heavy and pray that the shipment does not contain anything dangerous."

"Good," said Captain Gates.

"Bob," yelled Mr. Henry, "Please move the boxes to the Captain's car."

"Mr. Castle, I really do enjoy your fiction, but the last book you wrote about Neutral Territory was fascinating. If you ever decide to do another non-fiction book you might consider the role of the diesel truck in the American economy and history. I'm sure you can find enough stories from the truckers on what they shipped to make it entertaining and drive home the point about its value."

Castle immediately flashbacked to the incident where he had woken up handcuffed to Kate, and the tiger he had inadvertently let loose, a tiger that had been illegally shipped across country. 'You know,' he thought, 'that's not a bad idea.'

"You aren't fishing for favorable press so that you could get some regulations changed are you?" joked Castle.

"Not directly," he admitted, "but every favorable word helps. People don't like the big rigs on the highways, or in the cities for that matter, but they don't realize how lost they would be without them."

"Well it is an interesting idea, and if I decide to do it can I call you?"

"Of course, of course, here is my card."

"Thanks," said Castle waving the card, "and thanks for the data."

"You're welcome. And Captain please locate the other warehouses, if they exist, and shut them down. I don't want my little boy exposed to that stuff," said Mr. Henry in the most sincere tone that Castle had ever heard.

"We will Sir," replied the Captain, "we will."

The other terminal was twelve miles away and located within the shadow of the interstate off-ramp. The terminal looked to be slightly older than the terminal they had just visited, slight smaller, but equally as busy. Their reception was equally as cordial and the boxes containing the data was ready for pickup.

On the way back to the precinct the Captain asked, "Thoughts Mr. Castle."

"A bit disappointed Sir. We were hoping that some of the shipments from the originating terminal were separated here. That would give us the location of the other warehouse. Now we are going to have to go into a data crunch mode. Look at all of the shipments, see which ones go to warehouses of companies we don't recognize identify the company etc. A much longer process, but If they gave us all of the data, then the location of the second warehouse is buried in there somewhere. We just have to find it."

"What about the out-bounds?"

"Those are potentially the most important."

"I agree," said Captain Gates, "but I don't think the Inspector will."

"So we let the FBI handle them?"

"I think that's where they belong."

"Unfortunately I agree," said a gloomy Castle.

"Do you think the warehouse, call-back number pairing will work?"

"Yeah, I do. I don't know how we missed it, but I think it will give us the lead we need. Captain, about the baby-sitters, if you must put a detail on us assign it to the Loft. That is where we are vulnerable. That is where we walk, and shop and so on. Every other time we are surrounded by cops or feds."

"Or Gino's people?" asked the Captain.

"Only at Tony's," laughed Castle. "And the person would have to have the biggest death wish of all times to try to hit anyone at Tony's at lunchtime on a Sunday. I mean if all of the NYPD's SWAT teams hit Tony's at 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon, they probably would still be out gunned."

The rest of the trip back to the 12th was spent in comfortable silence.

**At the 12****th**

As Kate approached the Range Officer's cage she heard Officer Sally Madison call out. "Good morning Detective. Captain Gates called and said you would be down. The training material is in the class room. Take the test when you are done. Its open book so I don't expect to see a wrong answer. The shotgun is in the cleaning room. Examine it. Let me know when you are ready to go to the range."

"Let me see," said Kate. "This time is it a fouled ejection port or a faulty slide mechanism."

"Could be," confirmed Sally, "You know if you are tired of Castle, you don't have to shoot him. You could push him in my direction."

At first Kate was pissed, and then she sighed. Now that the Board was over, the incident would become public knowledge, at least in the precinct, she should expect and would have to endure the jokes. The good thing about this was the harassment ended when the next screw-up became known. 'One, two days tops,' she thought.

"No I think I will keep him. He does have his uses."

"Darn," said Sally with a smile. "I thought as much."

Kate quickly worked through the familiar material, handed in the test and went into the cleaning room to examine the weapon. A couple of minutes or so later Sally heard Kate laugh and call out "The ejector port and the slide mechanism, you really pulled out the stops." A minute later she heard Kate laugh again and call out "and the trigger mechanism?"

"The replacement is in the drawer to your left," Sally yelled back.

When Detective Beckett brought the weapon out for inspection, Officer Madison did her own check, declare the weapon useable and they proceeded to the range. After watching Kate fire several rounds Officer Madison called a halt, declared Kate to be re-qualified with the weapon and asked "What really happened."

After describing the situation Kate concluded, "The only thing I can think of is that one section of the boxes was less dense than the rest and somehow a pellet snuck through. "

"Maybe," agreed Office Madison. "Just remember that shotgun blast radii are just approximations, sometimes the shells can be way off." When Kate nodded Officer Madison said "Go on Detective. The system will show you cleared within five minutes and I'll have the paperwork complete for the Captain within an hour."

When Kate returned to desk she saw that Esposito and Ryan were looking pleased with themselves.

"We will know first thing tomorrow," volunteered Esposito. "They run normal maintenance checks during the day. They will write a batch program to retrieve the callback number from the warehouse installations, run it after midnight tonight and give us the results in the morning. "

"It's the same with the other companies," added Ryan. "Offhand the supervisor didn't know of any, but they offered to check, first on the warehouses and then on all other installations. The one supervisor thought it was a thing his company needed to know anyway and would make it part of the standard maintenance scan."

"I've got everybody lined up, so if we find an unknown company name we start digging," added Agent Adams. "I got a feeling tomorrow could be fun."

"What about the affidavits? Any pattern as to how they found out about the drug warehouse?"

"Not yet, but it's coming along."

"Castle and the Captain are on their way back with the long haul shipper's data. No shipments were broken down at the freight terminal so we are not going to get any help there, but with all of the shipping records we will evidentially find the other warehouse."

"Provided they don't move it again. Remember they had nine million in cash in the warehouse we stumbled into. If it one things these guys have, its money," said Kate.

"Let's hope we can take away their time," added Special Agent Crockett. "I just got off of the phone with my brother and my Dad. My Dad is a retired Texas Ranger and my brother commands Company B out of Garland, Texas. They are going to quietly look into the warehouse-alarm situation in the Dallas –Fort Worth area. They promised me they would not act until after we do." In response to Kate's hard stare Special Agent Crockett continued, "Look it is my job to find the pattern and deploy it nationally. I can trust my brother and the Rangers to conduct this test case quietly and let me know the results. I also passed Castle's idea about 'Roach Coaches' in strange places and they think it makes a lot of sense. They will let us know about that too."

"I'm also lining up a couple of assault teams, just in case. I think Castle is right. This is a prime indicator," added Agent Adams.

"We set to handle the paper material the Captain is bringing back?"

"Yes," said Agent Adams, "and I hate paper. We will scan it in, and then start to sort and then start to look at them. Maybe by noon tomorrow we can start to look at the data in earnest."

"Well it looks like we are in a bit of a wait mode. We need to receive and process the shipping information. We are waiting for the alarm companies to finish their analysis tonight and tell us tomorrow, and we are working through the affidavits to try to find the methods the customers used to find out about the home delivery drug service. Am I missing anything?"

"We still have surveillance on the bank in case the armored car shows up again, and we are starting surveillance on those two lunch carts."

"Ok, any word back from Dr. Woods?"

"Only that things got complicated and she has asked for help from the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence office. One of the bad things about working with Mary is that she gets so engrossed in what she is doing she doesn't let us know what is going on. On the other hand she almost always gets results."

"Ok," said Kate, "I guess when he get the outbound shipping information we may have more for her to work on."

"That's more like another avenue, but yeah," confirmed Special Agent Crockett. "I'll give her a call this afternoon just to check in."

"The note from Sergeant Jenkins of Major Crimes said they have not been able to find any suspicious deposits, so that part of the money trail is cool at best. Sergeant Johns still says the price on the street is relatively unchanged."

"The more I think about that the more concerned I get," said Esposito. "If an organization can lose that much stuff and still meet the demand without a price increase, that is just scary."

"Yeah, agreed," said Ryan. "One of the things I'm going to look into is transportation. I just got a call from the car rental agency, all of the vehicles that the LLC rented have been turned in. Unfortunately, the company cleaned and processed the vehicles so I'm not going to ask CSU to go through them. I'm going to check with some of the other agencies for companies renting or leasing the same number of vehicles."

"I'm meeting with Sergeant Johns. If the drugs are going from the warehouse to the local distributors for cutting, packaging and so on, they are going by car or van. I want to hear if they have anything on the delivery methods."

"Agent Adams and I are eating lunch off of the street carts," said Special Agent Crockett. It was clear that they were going to be part of the surveillance team. "We have four people coming in h to handle the shipping information," he added.

"I'm going to work through the affidavits and maybe after lunch do some follow ups," said Kate. "Ok it sounds like we have a plan. Let's get it done."

When Kate saw the Captain get off the elevator by herself she was concerned for a moment, she then concluded that Castle was probably rounding up carts and people to bring the data upstairs. Her suspicions were confirmed when the elevator opened the next time it was Castle and two uniforms pushing several carts toward the small conference room and the waiting FBI agents. After thanking the guys Castle walked over to the murder board. After a quick glance, his eyes sought Kate. "Gym, lunch, and then we revisit some of the people who used the home delivery service," she announced.

Growing up Castle had never been much of a gym rat. One of the side benefits of dating and finally marrying Kate was that she insisted that he accompany her when she did her workouts. Now it seemed like second nature. Similarly, when Kate suggested that he learn the baton he balked, but now he was more than glad than he did. Today's workout was with quarterstaffs. This eliminated Castle's reach advantage and because of Kate's superior quickness, Castle often found himself at a disadvantage. They wore thick padded gloves, because a strike on the hand during a block could easily break a finger. Nothing else was padded. They had to trust to their partner to pull their strike. The major difference between the Staff and the Baton for Castle was the Staff required Castle to pay a lot more attention to his footwork. In their last workout Kate told Castle that he had a tendency to over stride; luckily for him his reach with the baton allowed him recover from those errors. With the staff, he had no such compensating advantage. Repeatedly throughout the session Kate had made him pay for his mistakes. Returning to the center of the mat, they faced off for what would be the last time of the day,

When Castle struck, all he found was air, he had to pivot and bring the staff back low and fast to block a sweep Kate had made at his knee. For the next three minutes the pair kept up a furious pace of flowing strikes and counterstrikes. The clack-clack of staff hitting staff filled the workout area. Castle knew Kate was tiring and decided to end it. After a series of slashes, Castle made a lunge strike. Kate blocked both of the slashes and stepped inside the lunge. With a quick flick of her wrist she hit Castle on his calf.

"What did I tell you about over striding?" she panted.

"That it would kill me," he breathlessly responded. "And it did," said Castle as he collapsed on the mat.

"Get up," said Kate with a laugh as she offered him a hand, "Clean up, and then you can buy me lunch. After that we got some interviews we need to conduct."

The end of day stand-up was short and sweet.

Ryan had found one car rental agency that had just leased eight cars to a company that he had confirmed was an LLC. Car descriptions, license plates and drivers license data was due in the morning. But over the phone he had confirmed that at least one of the drivers was the same.

"Perhaps he did not get the word to change ID's." said Esposito.

"Let's hope so," said Kate. "That would be a mistake we can capitalize on."

Special Agent Crockett was able to say that both of the lunch carts slipped brown packets of something to special customers. We had identified a retail distributor. Now all we had to do was follow the trail both forward and backward.

For Kate and Rick they had learned that several of the people had heard of the service from friends, and tomorrow they would refine the trail.

As Kate pulled the cruiser into their parking spot near the Loft, she heard Castle say," I'm going to pop down to the market for a few things."

"I'll come with," she announced.

"In that case pop the trunk so that I can get the bags out." Castle had learned from experience that whenever Kate accompanied Castle to do grocery shopping, the concept of 'just a few things' went out of the window. Long ago Castle had put a duffle containing his vest, among other things, in Kate's cruiser. After they were married they developed the habit of stopping for things on the way home after work. To make things manageable on the walk home, Castle had put several good sized cloth bags in the duffel. As Castle was unzipping the duffel and pulling out the bags, he heard Kate call and tell the nanny that they were home were heading down to the store.

"Martha's in and will be home for the evening," Kate announced, "so Amy is heading home."

'Three for dinner,' thought Rick as he pulled the third bag out of the duffel. Re-zipping the duffel and storing it in the trunk Castle grabbed the bags in his left hand and offered Kate his right arm. 'A gentleman would never offer his right arm for the direction they were going,' thought Castle. 'Gentleman is a concept I cannot afford,' he reasoned. 'I need Kate's gun hand to be free, just in case.'

Kate unzipped her jacket another couple of inches and checked the gun strap. So knew why Castle had offered her 'the wrong arm' and she approved.

When they entered the market Kate detached herself from his arm, took one of the grocery bags and started to walk away. Castle stood for a moment and admired his wife's walk. After a couple of steps Kate turned, looked back at Castle staring at her. Castle responded with a soft 'wolf whistle' and proceeded toward the meat section.

'I will never tire of him doing that,' admitted Kate. 'I just hope he never stops.'

By habit they joined back up in the Dairy section, near the ice cream. Traditionally they bought chocolate for Castle and Rocky Road for Kate. At the checkout Kate learned, by watching Castle empty his bags on the counter, that they were having pork chops, green beans, onions, and sweet potatoes for dinner. Castle had bought a couple of packages of dinner rolls, prepackaged salad and the add-ons to make a Waldorf salad for him and the dressing to make a Caesar salad for her and Martha. For dessert he had bought shortcakes, fresh strawberries and blueberries and whipped cream.

The only thing out of Kate's bag that caught Castle's attention was a bottle of Kate's favorite red wine.

Exiting the grocery store and heading for the Loft, Castle felt the hairs on the back of his head stand up. Sneaking a glance to his rear he noticed a man with a tell-tale bulge under his jacket, rapidly approaching. After a couple of steps he dropped the grocery bags and spun Kate into a kiss. "Behind me," he whispered.

"Got him," Kate whispered back.

"We are clear to the Loft," Castle whispered.

With Castle's body blocking their assailant's view, Kate was able to draw and ready her weapon while still doing a convincing job of kissing Castle. As their assailant's hand rose toward the gun in a shoulder, time seemed to slow down for Kate. "Castle down," she yelled. Using the hand she had around his back, she grabbed his coat and spun him to her left. She used the momentum generated by the pulling action to slide forward and to her left a half of a step and drop down to one knee. She heard her opponent's gun fire, and saw the muzzle flashes. In her mind's eye she thought that they had fired simultaneously. His shots had passed over their heads and into the windows of the store behind her. Her shots had hit center mass. The impact of Kate's bullets forces the assassin to stumble back a couple of quarter-steps and his gun hand flew up as he tried to maintain his balance. 'Damn he's wearing a vest,' thought Kate. Taking a breath and holding it she adjusted her aim and fired twice in succession.

The sound of the bullet hitting the arm and leg was distinctive. Kate watched the assassin fall backwards, let go of his weapon and hit the ground. Using her off-hand Kate reached out to touch Castle and pushed roughly back down and spun toward the sound of running feet. "NYPD," she yelled. "Hands! Let me see your hands!"

"NYPD," came the response in a familiar voice that Kate could not quite place.

"Rodriquez," growled Castle from the ground. "So the Captain assigned you as our baby-sitter."

"Only till she relieves me. How did you guys get here? Never mind. Great shooting Sergeant! Let me check the fool," as he continued running toward the assailant.

"Let me up Kate," said Castle. For when Kate had swung toward the sound of the approaching officers, she had placed one of her knees on Castle's back and didn't move for fear of ruining her shot.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, just my pride."

"I'll fix that later. I promise."

"Let me check the stores to see if anyone was hurt while you call this in."

"Right," she said as she stood up and offered a hand to her husband.

Across the street, a fan that had come here in the express hope of taking some pictures of his favorite author was finishing uploading the images she had taken to a local TV station. 'If this doesn't win me the two-hundred and fifty dollar weekly news tip prize then I don't know what will,' she thought.

Minutes later Castle returned with two cups of coffee. "Kate…Kate…Katherine!" said Castle. "Where were you?" he asked handing Kate a cup. "Everyone in the stores is fine, scared but fine. I told Hector he will probably be busy making fresh coffee for most of the night as he is about to be invaded by a horde of cops."

"Good," responded Kate. "I was… I was lost in a world without you."

"I will never leave your side," said Castle.

"I know," said Kate in a tone of voice that convinced Castle Kate had returned from whatever place she had been. "Oh shit," Kate whispered.

Following her gaze, Castle saw three news trucks heading their way. "Impressive response time," he said. "I guess I need to find a place to put our groceries."

" and call Martha, and Alexis," said Kate.

"I will, and your Dad too,"

They were both heartened when the first Blue and White appeared. The cavalry was on its way.

When Captain Gates arrived she was surprised to see Esposito and Ryan already present. The LT must have called Esposito, then a quick call to Ryan and presto, the three musketeers were back together. One of these days I'm going to have to decide which musketeer is which, thought the Captain. She moved close to Detective Beckett just as she began her narrative for the Commander's Incident Response Team.

"This is fairly simple Sir," began Kate. "My husband and I just finished grocery shopping and were walking back to the Loft. After we had gone about ten yards, Castle spun me around and kissed me."

"I don't want to hear about your love life Sergeant," grumbled Captain Barnes of the 30th.

"It was a tactical ploy Sir," Kate responded. "By spinning me around Castle let me put eyes on the target and make an assessment. The kiss let the attacker think that he still had the advantage of surprise. With Castle's body in the way I was able to draw my weapon unnoticed. When he drew I was able to push Castle out of harm's way, drop to a knee and return fire."

"Why did you drop to a knee?" asked Rodriquez, "sorry," he quickly offered as he became the unwanted focus of all of the Command Staff present.

"Why did you Sergeant?" asked Captain Gates.

"I thought I was dealing with a pro and his target would be center mass or maybe even a head shot. So I moved to get myself out of his ideal line of fire, try to make myself as small a target as possible, and still have a good shooter's foundation."

"Was anyone else hurt?" asked one of the Inspectors.

"No Sir. I got off four rounds and they are all accounted for, two in his vest, one in shooting arm and one in the leg. He got off five rounds. They impacted the store fronts and no one was injured by the rounds or the flying glass."

"Why were you expecting him to shoot at you?" asked Inspector Grier.

"Earlier in the day we had been warned that something like this was going to happen, and the money being offered was substantial."

"That's true Sir," offered Captain Gates. "They had the call on speaker and I heard most of it. That is why Rodriquez and his partner were assigned here."

After Kate had run through the shooting a couple more times and the Command Staff grilled Officer Rodriquez and his partner on what they saw, the Commanders conferred and declared it to be a good shoot.

Relieved, Kate thought the worst part of the night was over, but she was mistaken. The PR department had arrived and it was determined to put the best spin possible on this event. She saw the amusement in Castle's eyes as the PR staff prepared her to make a statement and to do a series of interviews with the media present. 'Payback' she thought, 'for all of the times I hassled Castle and his agent as they prepared for his first interviews following a book release.'

'I can do this,' she thought. But midway through the interview sessions when one of the reporters said they wanted to interview the hapless and helpless civilian that Detective Beckett had saved, Kate almost lost it and she heard the growl of a pissed off Castle in her mind. Kate was upset when the PR staff went looking for Castle, but she smiled to herself when she saw Castle, carrying their groceries, and in the company of a uniformed officer approach the Loft. 'I will be with you as soon as I can escape, Love' thought Kate.

Captain Gates thought Sergeant Beckett had handled the interviews well. She came across exactly like she is. A solid hard working honest cop, but there was no way she would be a party to an interview that deliberately and undeservedly hurt Castle's reputation. And the Captain was not about to let that happen either. But how to extract the Detective without starting a pissing contest with the PR Division, that was the question? Seeing the EMT's, the Captain hatched a plan.

With the EMT's in tow, the Captain approached Detective Beckett. "You are right Captain; she does look a little pale. Please sit down Detective so that we may take your blood pressure."

"I feel fine," said Kate.

"Do it," said the Captain.

The EMT with Sullivan on his cloth nameplate made a show of attaching the blood pressure cup and taking Kate's blood pressure. "We need to get you out of here, "he said.

"But she has another interview scheduled, and we need to talk to the …," said the PR staff officer.

"Go with them Detective….That was not a request."

Once they had entered the EMT vehicle, EMT Sullivan smiled and said," You're fine. I n my opinion you are suffering from 'I need to be homitis.' Fortunately we have a cure. In a couple of blocks we are going to stop. You are going to exit the vehicle and proceed directly into the building. You are not to stop for anything. When you finally arrive at your home I recommend that you hug and kiss your son and husband as many times as you need to in order to reacquire that feeling of inner peace I know you enjoy."

"EMT Sullivan you are a genius."

"It was the Captain's idea."

"Then I shall thank her tomorrow."

It only took the sight of James overseeing Castle's dinner preparations to relieve Kate of all her pent up anxiety. It took a good many hugs and kisses to console Castle, but Kate enjoyed that as well.

Special Agent Crockett and his team had commandeered three tables at one of the local sports bars and were eating dinner when the news about Detective Beckett's shooting temporarily displaced the game. He frowned when he saw Castle pull Kate into the kiss then smiled when Kate spun him away, dropped to a knee and shot the attacker. 'A brilliant piece of tradecraft, that' he thought.

When his Team looked in his direction he shrugged and said. "Guys I know that this event is part of the case, but I think it will be a cold day in Hell before the NYPD our needs help in taking care of one of their own. If we go over there we would just be in their way. I suggest we finish our dinner. Tomorrow looks like it could be a great day. Detective Beckett came through the event in one piece. We can get the story from her, minus the brass, the spin and the press in the morning."

"What was Castle doing, grabbing and kissing his wife like that in public," asked Carl, the youngest and certainly the most conservative member of his team. "I mean they only live three blocks away, and then diving to the ground like that."

"Is that all you saw, the kiss?" asked Agent Adams.

"Yes," answered Carl, seemingly a bit confused by the question. "What else is there?"

"Did you notice that Castle just happened to spin Detective Beckett around so that she  
had a clear view of their attacker?" continued Agent Adams "Either she is lightening fast, or she used Castle's body to hide the fact form their assailant that she was reading her weapon."

"…and when Kate yelled for him to get down, he did. He got out of her way and made himself as small a target as possible," continued Agent Brooks, the second most senior man on the team. "A partner who thinks, understands and obeys orders," he continued, "what a novelty."

"Also what else would expect from a guy who only has a baton…"

"…and it's a gun fight," ended Special Agent Crockett. "Remember a couple of days ago he took on Sal Martinez. An assassin with at least thirty five kills. Sal has black belts in more martial art forms then I have letters in my name, and Castle subdued him without a scratch. The kiss was a fine piece of tradecraft, and their movements, tactically brilliant," offered Special Agent Crockett.

"Good tradecraft or not,"" said Agent Brooks with a hint of a laugh, "If you try that on me in public we will have more than just words."

After the laughter had died down Special Agent Crockett commented, "They do make a fine Team don't they." With nods his Team resumed eating their dinner and their chatter returned to more mundane topics.

**Chapter 12 You aren't Paranoid if….**

The coffee had just finished brewing and Castle had just finished filling her cup when Esposito called.

"Espo what's up?" asked Kate as she put the phone on speaker and reached for her coffee.

"I just got a tip on my cell about a warehouse on Marigold. Let's meet at the diner at the corner of Maple and Marigold. It's a couple of blocks away and we should be able to blend in just fine."

"Ok, who have you called?"

"Just you."

"Ok, you call Ryan and the DA for a warrant. I'll call the precinct and Special Agent Crockett."

"I'll call Mrs. Ferguson to see if we can drop James off before Amy gets here," said Castle. Several times in the past Castle had to stay home with James when Kate answered either the early morning or late night phone calls. He hoped today was not one of those times.

Detective Beckett and Castle were the first to arrive at the diner. The diner was a local institution. It had survived several fires, rezoning attempts and even a small riot. At six forty-five it was doing a brisk breakfast trade. Its old style tables and chairs, and counter stools were a throwback to the 1950's era diner. Castle thought that some of the stools still dated from that era. Esposito was right a cop eating breakfast here would not raise an eyebrow. The lot had several Blue and Whites and Kate had the feeling that several additional police cruisers would not even be noticed.

Kate frowned when Castle order breakfast, but when it arrived before the rest of her Team she quickly snatched half of Castle's bacon and toast. "You want my eggs too?" quipped an exasperated Castle.

"Just a bite," said Kate as snatched his fork and helped herself to a couple of forkfuls. And that's how Esposito and Ryan found them, Kate with Castle's fork finishing the eggs.

"I think it would be safe to order breakfast now," said Castle with a straight face," now that Kate has eaten mine." Castle let Kate's glare slide off, "Are we good to go?"

"Yeah," said Esposito. "FBI coming?"

"Either Crockett has his cell off or he has a battery issue," said Kate. "I left messages for his cell, at the field office, and at the 12th. I asked him to call me when he gets them. So right now I think we are on our own."

"We drove by the warehouse on the way here," said Ryan. "It appeared to be deserted."

"That's strange," said Detective Beckett. "I thought there would be activity there."

"You know drug dealers," quipped Ryan quietly, "they have better hours than bankers."

In the parking lot the Team decided to approach the warehouse casually from two different directions and then converge on the door.

When Kate got out of the car and looked at the warehouse she felt her skin grow cold. "Castle," she whispered.

"I feel it too," he replied. The need for caution was unspoken.

Esposito reached the door first, tried the handle. "We are in luck, it's unlocked," he said. As he went to open it Kate shouted "No "and Castle shouted "Wait".

"You know something I don't," he asked.

"No," said Kate, "Yes" said Castle.

"Look," continued Castle. "An unlocked door at an abandoned warehouse, that we just got a tip on, strikes me as just too long a string of coincidences."

"Ok," said Esposito trusting his Teammate's instincts. "What do you suggest?"

"Let's get the rope out of Kate's car and rig it so that we can open the door while standing down there." Castle was pointing to the depressed driveway. It was depressed a little bit to allow the rear gates of the trucks to align with the dock. "If we crouch down, we can be out of the blast radius."

"You think the door is rigged to blow?" asked Ryan.

"I don't know, but I think it is a definite possibility," confided Castle.

The Team watched as Castle tied the rope around the door handle and snaked it around a post, which would give it the proper angle to pull the door open and threw the end of the rope down to the protected area. They watched him take a card out of his wallet, twist the door handle and put the card in place to prevent the latch from returning into the recessed portion of the door. "We are going to need a lookout across the street," he said. "If this thing does blow we do not want to damage any private vehicles or kill any civilians."

"But we do not know the blast radius, right?" said Esposito."

"Right, I'm assuming anti-personnel sized blast, but I don't know. Look I'll go I can stand behind that tree. That should provide enough cover."

"Castle," said Kate.

"I'll be ok, I should be outside the blast radius and the tree should provide cover in case I'm not. You guys need to hug the wall." With a dash he was across the street.

"Ready, he called….Now," he shouted and ducked behind the tree.

Kate tugged on the rope, 'Boom', 'Boom', 'Boom', 'Boom', 'Boom', 'Boom' was the response.

"Son of a Bitch," shouted Esposito, "Claymores, six frigging Claymores."

They looked at the warehouse. The door and an area four feet to either side of it had been blown away. If they had been standing anywhere near the door when it opened they would probably be dead. They all looked back toward the tree Castle was hiding behind. They were shocked to see it riddled with debris.

"Castle," said Kate tentatively. "Castle!" she shouted.

He peeked out from behind the tree, "I guess I underestimated the blast radius." He looks ok, thought Kate, and he is trying to tell a joke. He is going to be fine.

"Yep, you did," she shouted back. "Ryan, why don't you call this in? Espo, talk to me about the tip you received this morning."

"When I checked by phone this morning I had a voice mail saying that one of the warehouses I was interested in was this one, and I had to hurry because it was being emptied."  
"You need to call Tech and have them try to trace that call. I know we have lost time, but they may still be able to find out something. Espo, you said this came in on your phone. Who have you been talking to about warehouses?"

"No one really, just the guy at the Security Agency."

"Then I think we need to pay him a visit," said Castle.

With a glance at Castle Kate nodded her agreement. Then she turned and stared. Castle's leather jacket now had several holes and the blue of his 'Writer's Vest' showed through. Also there was a touch of blood on his face.

"Strip, now," growled Kate motioning at Castle's jacket.

"Is she like this at home?" asked Ryan with a straight face.

"Normally I get a glass of the good stuff first," replied Castle as he handed Kate his jacket and twirled around at her command. "I'm ok, really. What the jacket didn't stop the vest did. I'm lucky that there wasn't anything higher or lower. And this," he said touching the side of his lips "Is nothing. I must have bit my lip when the first thing came through the tree and thumped me on the chest."

As Castle held out his hand for his jacket Kate remarked, "At least now I have an idea for an anniversary present."

"Yeah," said Esposito, "What every husband and wife Detective team should have, a matching set of Kevlar backed rip stop lined leather jackets." Kate would have laughed with the rest of her team except she could tell by the look in Castle's eye; he thought it was a great idea.

"We going in?" asked Castle with a nod toward the warehouse. "We certainly knocked loud enough."

The brief search revealed the obvious, the warehouse was abandoned and the accumulated dust suggested that it had been abandoned for some time. This lead to the obvious conclusion that this was a trap designed to kill the investigating Team. The realization sobered and pissed off the Team. "Castle," growled Esposito, "You are going to have to tell us how you knew it was a trap."

"Yeah," echoed Ryan.

Castle turned and looked at Kate. "Not today guys," he said. "After we close this case I'll tell you over a beer at the Olde Haunt."

"That weird?"

"Yes, and if he doesn't tell you I will," promised Kate.

"Any other surprises?" asked Ryan.

"No," replied Kate.

As the Team was waiting for CSU and the rest of the support troops to show up they saw Castle frantically searching the debris field. "What are you looking for? asked Ryan.

"You know that blue card I used to stop the door from latching? It was my library card."

"It's ok Castle," laughed Kate. "I think I can lend you the money to get a replacement."

"You don't understand. This will be my fourth replacement this year. It will cost at least twenty bucks."

"We'll I guess it's a good think that you are rich," Kate responded in a completely flat voice. When CSU pulled up they marveled at the damage, and wondered why the Detectives were laughing so loud.

**At the 12****th**

One of the things that Captain Gates insisted upon is knowing where her troops are at any given moment. She smiled when she saw her 'A Team' signed out to a warehouse on Marigold in response to a tip. 'Perhaps they caught a break' she thought. She frowned when she saw the invitation to meet with the Chief at nine thirty AM. She expected some consequences for the way she extracted Beckett from the clutches of the PR machine last night, but not at the Chief level. She must admit she took her clue from Castle. She admired the fact that when Castle heard the interview request and topic, he simply vanished. No regrets, no hard feelings, he just simply decided not to be here, and that was the best thing he could of done.

When the report of the explosion made the news, she resisted the temptation to call them directly and instead asked Dispatch to inform her when any member of the Team called in. In a couple of minutes things became clear, Esposito had called in for Tech support, and Ryan had called in for building inspectors, and CSU support. A few minutes after that Detective Beckett called in to inform her that the Team was unharmed, the building was obviously a trap, and they were going to try to back track the tip to its source, and their first stop was the Security Company Esposito had talked with yesterday.

Special Agent Crockett and other members of his Team arrived at the 12th at the normal time and wondered where everyone was. They wanted to hear the real story from last night and were anxious to start crunching the warehouse-alarm pair data. When the phone calls started coming in about the explosion he was pissed, up to the point where he went to use his phone and discovered that he had turned it off and had never turned it back on. After listening to Beckett's message about the warehouse he calmed down. They had let him know what was going on and he dropped the ball. Nothing serious, but Ty still felt that he had let them down. Knowing he would be nothing more than a spectator he resisted the temptation to rush to the crime. His patience was rewarded when Beckett called the Captain a few minutes later to inform them that the warehouse was empty and obviously configured as a trap. The Captain informed him that their next stop would be the alarm company, after they had turned the site over to CSU. He decided to join the Team there.

**At the Security Company**

As the Team entered the lobby of the Security Company, Kate noticed the look of near panic on the receptionist face. She chuckled to herself; right now we are a scary bunch. It comes from almost being blown up.

"I'm Detective Esposito; this is Detective Ryan, Sergeant Beckett and Mr. Castle. Is Mr. Alan Winton around?"

"No Detective, he has not come in today. I've called his apartment and his cell, but I haven't got an answer."

"We are going to need his home address, and talk to whoever is in charge," snapped Detective Beckett.

"Let me get Mr. Salazar," she said.

"May I help you Sergeant," said a very handsome man concentrating his smile on Kate.

Kate saw Castle pretending not to notice and began. "Yesterday Detective Esposito talked to your guy Alan Winton about doing some research for us on warehouses and call back numbers."

"Well nothing of that sort was scheduled last night," he volunteered.

"This morning I get a call on my cell with a tip about a warehouse," said Esposito. "It was bobby-trapped and blew-up on us. The only person I talked to about warehouses yesterday was Alan, and now your receptionist tells us he has not showed up for work."

"We don't believe in coincidences," said Ryan.

"We need his home address now," demanded Kate. "And we need to get the information that Detective Esposito asked for.

"Sally," said Mr. Salazar, "give them Alan's address."

"Espo," started Kate, "get uniforms over there to secure the apartment. Ryan get us a warrant please. We are looking for information, phone etc. that would tie him into the call to Espo. Castle, explain to Mr. Salazar what we need, while I add him to the no-fly list."

After Castle had explained their data needs, Mr. Salazar nodded, "We can provide that Mr. Castle. Sally call corporate and tell them to send a lawyer done here right now. Unless they can give me a really good reason, I'm about to give data to the NYPD…"

"and the FBI," said Castle as Agents Crockett and Adams walked in.

"and the FBI without a warrant. And I'm reasonably sure they can get a Warrant down here quicker than I can say 'abracadabra'. "

"You bet," said Kate in a voice loud enough for all to hear.

"Uniforms are on their way," stated Esposito. "And I've asked Tech to try to track his cell."

"We have a good Warrant," added Ryan.

"Ok you guys. Go take a look at Mr. Winton's apartment, and place nice," said Kate addressing Esposito and Ryan.

"Play nice with the guy that probably set us up?" said Esposito. "Right."

"Espo!"

"Yes Sergeant, come on bro let's go and talk nicely to this guy."

"Do you think Alan is involved?" asked Mr. Salazar.

"Don't know Sir," replied Detective Beckett. "But the coincidence chain is too long."

"Come on back," said Mr. Salazar. "Let me introduce you to the 'girls'. They will be able to extract the information you seek from our customer services database."

They entered what was obviously their data processing, and software development area. "We man this operation twenty-four seven," said Mr. Salazar. "We utilize four people per shift and we can add an extra four if the situation warrants it. These girls are the best there is. They run remote checks on the equipment we have installed on the clients premises and do whatever is necessary to prevent the bad guys from hacking into our network and comprising the security of our clients." The room contained desks, monitors and computers for sixteen people. Each person had his or her own cube with space almost the size of Castle's office. "We refresh their equipment about every eighteen months and we make sure they stay current on the cyber threat. We will meet with them in the Team's conference room." All and all Castle thought, a very impressive development facility.

After the introductions Mr. Salazar said, "Mr. Castle why don't you begin by stating what you are looking for."

"Certainly, what we are looking for is warehouses that have notification numbers different from the call-center the company provides."

"Just warehouses?" asked Nancy, a drop dead gorgeous brunette who favored Castle with a very winning smile. "We can give you all of the building types and you can filter them out post processing."

"This way we can find an office, if they have one," said Kate. "Great idea."

"Ok," Nancy said. "What specific type of information are you looking for?"

"Building type, location, and notification number," offered Agent Adams immediately.

"What about if use the company's notification number in addition to a separate private number? Are you interested in who owns the building, and the name of the company who has contracted for the service?"

"Yes please," replied Agent Adams. "You have that information?"

"We have to be able to bill them," chuckled Mr. Salazar. "What are you going to do with the data?"

"First we find which companies are foreign owned," began Special Agent Crockett.

"And then we check with the delivery companies to see if the delivery pattern matches the other warehouse. If so we get a Warrant and go look to see what they are storing at that warehouse," added Agent Adams.

"I've got some ideas that we can run in parallel and may help us shorten the timeline," said Castle. Castle continued when he got the continue gesture from Crockett. "We could check to see if the phone number is assigned to….

"….one of the cell phones that was bought by the first LLC."

"Easy enough," said Agent Adams almost immediately. "That provides a clear tie to the first warehouse. What else Mr. Castle?"

"We ask the lawyer if he represents any of these companies."

"He won't," started Agent Adams.

"It is a sustainable warrant," interrupted Special Agent Crockett with a nod. "They know we would ask for a neutral third party to compare the lists. Requests like that are almost always granted."

"They were very co-operative when we talked with them before. I think they expect us back," added Kate.

"How long," asked Mr. Salazar.

"An hour, one and a half tops. What format do you want?"

"How about comma separated values with hard carriage returns for end of records so we can drop it into a spreadsheet for some post processing. Unless you think the number of records will be too large," said Agent Adams with a smile.

"Shouldn't be," said Nancy returning the smile.

"Good," said Mr. Salazar with a huge smile and holding out his hand to Kate, "I think we are done here. Nancy has your email information and will send the information to you. Detective if there is anything I can do for you please don't hesitate to ask." Kate had to forcibly extract her hand from his grip. Despite the presence of her wedding band, Mr. Salazar was doing his best to hit on her. "Let me drop by my office and get a business card with my direct number," he said. "This way we can shorten the lines of communication." Kate could feel Castle start to react.

"A moment Mr. Castle," said Nancy as the group started to fill out. "I need to give you the password so that you can decrypt the file I'm going to send you."

Kate loitered by the door waiting for her partner. She saw Nancy write something on a piece of paper, hand it to Castle and then lean in and say something. She watched Castle close his eyes and bow his head. In a moment his head snapped back up and he began to speak. "Nancy you are indeed one of the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. Even if you are a charming and witty conversationalist, and one of the most skilled courtesans in the world, you still would rank a distant second to my wife, Kate." Castle opened the paper and looked at the contents. "This is the password."

"Yes" Nancy responded.

"Do you mind if I give it to Agent Adams."

"No," she whispered.

When Castle looked up he locked eyes with a startled Kate who scampered from the room. 'Castle,' she thought, 'words like that could make you lucky tonight and the next and the next,' smiled Kate.

In the parking lot outside of the security agency, Castle laughed to himself when he saw Agents Crockett and Adams and Detective Beckett check their watches. "List by ten forty-five, phone match by …."

"Eleven-thirty," offered Agent Adams with a grin.

"I'll make an appointment for eleven with the partners," smiled Kate. "We should be back by noon."

"So do we schedule a raid during or after lunch," asked Castle.

"After," said Kate. "Collecting the people is the most important thing."

"Agreed," Said Special Agent Crockett, "But let's give Mr. Murphy is due, we don't have a location yet, but I am optimistic."

"Beckett," said Kate as she answered her phone.

"Yes Officer, Mr. Alan Winton is wanted in regard to the warehouse that blew up this morning. Could you have him transported to the 12th. The Detective Team will be anxious to talk to him."

"Mr. Winton was trying to get on a flight to Brazil," offered Kate. "I think we have spoiled his day."

Speed dialing her phone, "Esposito you guys find anything?"

"Yes and yes. We came up nearly empty in the apartment. It looks like he scooted out in a hurry. There is some stuff to suggest that he might be a casual drug user. The big break is that in one of the dumpsters out back the Uniforms found a cell phone, and in the other a SIM card. It will take Tech a little while to try to find prints and then assemble it to see if this was the phone that called me this morning."

"Well if you are done there, Mr. Winton was detained at the airport and is now on his way to the 12th. Do you guys want to be the ones to do the interview?"

"Do you have to ask?"

A moment later Detective Beckett called her Captain, and brought her up to speed on the warehouse, the suspect, the information coming from the security company and a possible timeline.

"Do you guys mind telling us what happened last night and at the warehouse this morning?" asked agent Adams.

"How about over breakfast," offered Castle. "There is an excellent diner less than a half-mile away; our breakfast was well, interrupted."

"We're good, but we will join you for coffee," said Special Agent Crockett

Castle was suspicious when Kate did not order anything for breakfast. His suspicions were confirmed, when for the second time that morning, she raided his bacon and toast. Over breakfast and coffee they brought their FBI collages up to speed.

Arriving back at the Detectives bull-pen they encountered a determined Ryan and Esposito.

"Mr. Winton will be up in a couple of minutes," Esposito offered. "Tech confirmed that this is the phone that was used to call me. Tech was able to pull off some prints and some other numbers form the call log. They are tracking them down for us."

"The FBI confirms that this phone is from the same lot as those we found in the warehouse," added Ryan.

"Ok, we have a solid connection," said Detective Beckett. "I assume we have started the background check on this guy?"

"Yes," said Esposito. "I must admit when we told the security firm about finding the cell in the dumpster behind his apartment and that he had tried to leave the country, they emailed his entire employee file. We are working through that now."

"Good," said Detective Beckett.

"Sergeant", said a voice to Kate's rear.

"Detective Sweet, Detective Davis," she replied.

"The Captain has assigned us the case involving your shooter. He was a local guy who occasionally took some work from some of the Families, mostly intimidation, hired muscle, and the occasional hit," offered Detective Sweet.

"There was a sizeable sum transferred into his account yesterday, and we are trying to track it," said Detective Davis. "It came in from an off-shore account and we are stuck."

"Give me the account number," said Special Agent Crockett, "and we will add it to the list of accounts we need to crack. Though I must admit that so far we have not had much success either."

"He must have used a burner phone to set-up the deal, because we found nothing on the phone he was carrying," added Detective Sweet. "We are going to try to back track his steps for the last couple of days to see if there was any type of face-to-face meeting, but I don't think we will find anything."

"Ok, Thanks," said Detective Beckett. She looked at her watch. In a couple of minutes they will have Mr. Winton in the box and in thirty the data. She stole a glance at Castle. He was calmly talking with Agent Adams about 'data walls' and 'truncated search algorithms'. Well we each wait in our own way. Ah Mr. Winton I presume, she thought as a well dressed prisoner was escorted off of the elevator and toward the box. We have been waiting for you. She strolled to the observation room with Castle in tow as the Boys flashed toward their prey. This will not be pretty. If he is smart this will be over quick, if not….

**Downtown**

Captain Gates felt a little anxious as she was ushered into the Chief's small conference room. I did the right thing, she told herself for the hundredth time this morning. Now we see how it plays out. She stood up as the Chief, the Chief of Detectives and two people from the PR division came in. The lady, Helen Hunter, who handled the show last night and her boss I expect. Wait, did the Chief of D's just wink at me? Maybe this is not as bad as it looks.

After the introductions Helen began, "Chief Burnside you know how hard it is to keep putting the NYPD in the best possible light and last night Captain Gates virtually ruined the opportunity."

"I thought Sergeant Beckett came across fine in the interviews," commented the Chief.

"She did," confirmed Helen, "but Captain Gates had her removed before she could complete the interviews, and we also wanted to interview the person that Sergeant Beckett saved, but Captain Gates couldn't find him."

"I'm sure Mr. Castle heard the interview request and decided not to participate," said Captain Gates.

"Let me get this straight," laughed the Chief of Detectives. "Richard Castle, renowned author, and Sergeant Beckett's husband refused an interview. That doesn't pass the common sense test."

The Captain saw Helen's eyes widen when she heard that Castle was Beckett's husband, 'Interesting.' "I think he objected to being characterized as 'Hapless and Helpless', Sir" said the Captain. "When Helen asked for him I looked. When I saw him, he was carrying his groceries. He was two blocks away and had just crossed the street. He was maybe fifty yards away from his apartment and an uniform officer was with him."

"Did you order the officer to go with him?" asked Helen.

"No, Officer Hastings thought it would be a good idea to watch Castle's back. Just because one attempt failed doesn't mean there wouldn't be another."

"Smart," said the Chief. "Who was the idiot that characterized Castle as 'Hapless and Helpless'? I mean less than a week ago he took down Sal Martinez armed with only a baton."

"I was standing next to him when the reporter made the request to Detective Beckett to interview the hapless and helpless civilian that she saved. He turned to me and asked me to make sure that Kate got home ok. Then he turned and left."

"How did the Sergeant react?" asked the Chief of Detectives.

"She told them that would be up to that person. She did not offer any names, and she did not look happy."

"You should have told me he was her husband," said Helen.

"You are in PR. I thought you knew," was the Captain's response.

"OK," said the Chief. "Compelling Mr. Castle to do an interview under those conditions probably would have been a bad idea. Normally he does a great job for the department. But given the circumstances I can see why he would object."

"But the Press wanted to speak to him, Chief," interjected Helen.

"And he knows almost all of the press, their names, families everything. To interview him under those circumstances would have been….Awkward for both parties."

"Worse, we would be reading about it in his next book," added the Chief of Detectives. "But I agree with the Chief. Every time Castle has been interviewed he has done the NYPD proud. What he doesn't want to talk about nor can't he ducks. The funny thing is the Press knows he is ducking the question and they still eat it up."

"OK," said the Chief. "That still leaves you spiriting the Sergeant away Captain. Explain yourself."

"I thought she had had enough Sir. She had completed four or five interviews and had performed well, and I thought the last comment about her husband had upset her. So I stepped in to prevent a situation from happening."

"How?" the Chief asked.

"I had the EMT's make a show of taking her blood pressure and tell her she must go with them. I had them take her the two and a half blocks to her apartment…. I thought I prevented a situation from turning bad, and provided the Sergeant with an escort home."

"Nice" commented the Chief of Detectives.

"I called all of the hospitals trying to get an update on her condition," said Helen. "Imagine my surprise and concern when all of them said that they had not treated a patient by that name."

"I didn't know. I apologize for any concern I may have caused you," said the Captain.

"This still puts me in a bad light with a couple of reporters," Helen Said.

"We could always offer them first crack at an interview when we break this case," suggested the Captain.

"Where are we?" asked the Chief.

Captain Gates paused for a second then launched in with an update. "We know that we will eventually get there by analyzing the shipping data. The bad guys know that too. So I would expect them to prepare a new place and rearrange their long haul shipping instructions."

"So you will find where it was," said the Chief of Detectives, "not exactly what we want."

"Yes Sir, but with the warehouse blowing up this morning we think we are on the right track."

"That was Beckett's Team?" asked an astonished Helen. "I mean someone tried to take her out last night, and now you say she survived a warehouse blowing up?"

"Yes. Castle figured it was a trap and managed to open the door without any one getting hurt. Afterwards they went to the Security Company and will receive the data from them around ten forty-five. Again we think the warehouse will be on that list and we will have to work our way through it. But it should be a shorter list. We are going to try two shortcuts. One is to match the phone number to one of the original companies' burner phones, and the second is to take the list of companies back to the lawyer and ask if he represents any of the companies. A positive response to either one of the shortcuts shortens the timeline considerably."

"Another potential wildcard is Alan Winton. He is the guy Detective Esposito talked to yesterday and allegedly he left the tip to the trapped warehouse on Esposito's cell phone earlier this morning. We apprehended him trying to catch a flight to Brazil. He should be in the box with the next five minutes or so."

"Who's up?" asked the Chief of Detectives.

"Esposito," said the Captain.

"and Beckett as your closer, if you need it."

"Detective Esposito won't need it," affirmed Captain Gates. "In fifteen minutes will have everything that Mr. Winton knows about the situation."

"Ok," summarized the Chief. "I don't see a need to take this any further. Captain Gates used the disguise of a medical examination to remove one of her people from what she thought could be a compromising situation. I'm good with that. Captain, work with Helen to provide the jilted reporters an opportunity to interview Sergeant Beckett and her Team when you break the case. We need to keep the Press informed and on our side."

"Captain, if the shortcuts work out let us know ASAP. I'm not exaggerating when I say this is the number one thing we are concentrating on," said the Chief of Detective.

"Certainly Sir," said the Captain with a nod that included both Chiefs.

**Back at the 12th**

"Any suggestions?" asked Ryan as they paused outside the door to the box.

"Let him sweat for a minute," replied Kate. "Enter slowly, stay silent and make a show of reviewing the documentation."

"Where are we on the matching the prints?" asked Castle.

"Ten minutes, maybe fifteen," said Esposito.

"If he seems nervous, do you want to use that as a forcing function?" he asked.

"As always you need to play it by ear," advised Kate. "If he reacts to the phone then you might consider it as a hammer, if not hold on to it. In any event begin with the fact that he is being charged with the attempted murder of a Police Officer and that he would not be seeing the light of day for a long long time. Let's see if he is smart enough to bargain."

"Let's hope he knows something," admitted Castle.

Mr. Alan Winton was a big man. He was easily six-four and he carried his two hundred and twenty-five pounds like a man who worked out regularly and knew the value of exercise. Today he was dressed like a businessman leaving on a trip. A brown cassimere sport coat over a white mock-turtle shirt complemented his Khaki's. His well polished slip-ons cemented the image of a successful businessman dressing comfortably to go on a trip. The background material said he played football at Harvard and was a possible draft choice until he tore his ACL in the final game of the season. He had graduated with honors and decided to enter the corporate cyber security world, and had done well.

After a several minute wait, Sergeant Beckett and Castle watched Alan's reaction as The Boys entered the room.

"Why am I here," he half-yelled.

Kate smiled as Esposito and Ryan moved slowly to their seats, and slowly opened their portfolios.

"Hey I'm talking to you," Alan half yelled again.

She saw Alan's eyes widen when Esposito slowly pulled the phone out of the evidence bag that had been in his pocket and place it on the table.

"Mr. Alan no middle initial Winton, you are being charged with the attempted murder of three NYPD Officers. Each charge carries with it a minimum of twenty years and a maximum of life imprisonment. Served consecutively that's a minimum of sixty years. You dumb shit. You really didn't think that putting the phone in one dumpster and the SIM card in the other would slow us down did you."

"What am I a piece of chopped liver," grossed Castle.

"A very handsome piece of chopped liver," retorted Kate with a smile and a gentle touch to Castle's hand seemingly oblivious to the fact that Special Agent Crockett and Agent Adams were in the room with them.

"I…I never saw that phone in my life," stammered Alan.

"That's not what the prints say," countered Ryan matter-of-factly.

"We saw the evidence of drug use in your apartment," hammered Esposito in a perfectly timed double team comment. "Is that how they turned you? Your bill got so big that you need help to pay…"

"….or they threatened to black mail you," added Ryan.

"You searched my apartment?" Alan said beginning to go into a state of shock.

"Yes," commented Esposito. "We noticed your rapid departure. Our partner put you on the no fly list and presto you are here and get to explain why you ATTEMPTED TO KILL THREE NYPD OFFICERS."

"I …I"

"Look Alan," said Ryan in a slightly less belligerent tone of voice. "If you help us, perhaps we can help you. Now who told you to call my partner with a tip about the warehouse?"

"I had nothing to do with that I swear."  
"Really," said Esposito tapping the phone with his thumb. "And who called me the ambush faire?"

"What can you do for me?"

"That depends upon the quality of the information," countered Esposito.

"I need a guarantee."

"I can't," said Esposito. "It depends on the quality of the information."

Sergeant Beckett and Castle turned in response to the knock and the opening off the door. "Detective, here is the print comparison information. It is a match on both the phone and the SIM card, also a Mr. Salazar called and asked if you had gotten the email that his staff had sent on the request you and the FBI made this morning."

"Great," whispered Adams as he literally ran from the room to check his laptop.

"Thanks Officer Kindle. I'll get these to my guys and give Mr. Salazar a call after I check my email." She felt Castle's unease, but I didn't know how to broach the subject. 'Case first,' she thought. 'Castle isn't going anywhere and neither am I. Perhaps that is what I should tell him.' She mused. After reading the print comparison report she walked over to the box knocked on the door, walked in and slowly placed the print comparison report on the table between the Detectives.

"We just got the information we need and the FBI is starting to work it now. The prints are a match. The forensic guy said that there were more than sixteen identically points, and that was enough to get him convicted even in the UK. So unless he starts telling us how he first got involved, who his contact is, and what else he did for them, put him in holding and start the paper work charging him with four counts of attempted murder. We got real work to do."

"But a moment ago they said three Officers."

"They forgot Castle."

"Wait, Richard Castle was there? That can't be. I'm a fan."

With a half turn Kate headed toward the door.

"You heard the Sergeant," said Esposito "what is it going to be? Either you help us or we start the paperwork for four counts of attempted murder."

'I hope Castle heard that,' Kate thought he needs an ego boost right now.

"Nicely done," said Castle as Sergeant Beckett re-entered the observation room. "He has never met them, but he is telling us how he was recruited and what services he performed."

"Something else we need to think about on a National scale," said Special Agent Crockett.

With a nod Detective Beckett said, "I need to check my email, put it in a safe place, print a couple of copies and call a guy. They got this. Castle, do you want to take a look at the list?"

"A hundred and eighteen properties," said Kate. "More than I want, but a lot less than all of the warehouses on Long Island. Castle could you?" Kate asked looking at her coffee cup.

"Sure," he said. They both knew that Kate was going to use the time to call Mr. Salazar and she didn't want him to hear only one-half of the conversation. When she hung up the phone, she saw Castle exit the break room carrying two cups of coffee. 'He must have been watching' she thought.

'KATHRINE HOUGHTON BECKETT' a voice screamed in her mind. Kate? Kate blinked. 'Tell the man you love him.' 'I do.' 'Then tell him. He only knows what you say and do today.' 'I …. I will' 'Be sure that you do. Only a FOOL won't.'

Shakily, Kate reached down and grabbed her purse and her jacket.

"Castle I hate to do this to you, but it won't take the FBI long to match the phone numbers. So if we can get to the lawyers a little bit early…"

"….They can give us some answers. Ok I'm game. You ok?"

"Just nerves. I got a feeling that we are close to a breakthrough."

Castle had his hand on the car door handle when his cell phone went off.

"Gino," he said as he climbed into the car. "I just got into Kate's cruiser. We are on our way to make a house call….OK, you have some things for me and Kate but not Detective Beckett, we can live with that," Castle responded when he saw Kate nod.

"We are in Detective Beckett's cruiser. The radio is not on and no one else is around…. Going to speaker now."

"Hi Gino," said Kate. "It's like Castle said it's just Kate and Rick in the car and the radio is not on."

"Rickie, Kate, the guy who tried to whack you last night is one of mine, but I did not hire him to do the job."

"I figured as much," said Kate. "Because Castle and I are both still breathing."

"Yeah, one thing you got to know is they are still recruiting mechanics, and the money is becoming serious. Even for me."

"That's good to know I guess," said Castle in a worried tone. "Don't they know that whacking us won't stop the investigation?"

"I think they just want to buy some time," remarked Gino.

"That means we need to solve this quick," growled Kate in the tone of voice Castle recognized as huntress supreme.

"Yeah," said Gino. "Look Rickie I need a small favor."

"Sure Gino, you do know Kate's listening and on some things she has tougher standards than Detective Beckett."

"Sure, it's something Kate and Detective Beckett would agree to."

"OK, go"

"When you are interviewed and asked about the killer's connection to me, tell them that you don't think I had anything to do with it."

"I would do that anyway for the obvious reason. Look Gino are you in trouble with...? I mean is there someone I should call?"

"No, for exactly the reason Kate said earlier. You both are still breathing, and no one believes me to be that incompetent."

"Ok, I can see that. Anything else?"

"Yeah, but for Kate's and Rick's ears only. Detective Beckett cannot be involved in this."

The Castle's locked eyes. Kate took a deep breath, grabbed Castle's free hand and said, "Gino you have Kate's word on this. I think you already know the value of Rick's word."

"Gino, don't say a word," cautioned Castle. "You guys may think I'm psychic or the best storyteller ever but I predict the shooter will have an accident on his way back from the arrangement hearing this morning. After all he broke faith with his boss by taking a freelance job and now to save his own skin he may make a deal to tell what he knows about his boss's operation, and that cannot be allowed to happen."

"Rickie you are still the master storyteller, and you do know how to write an ending," said Gino with a touch of awe, understanding and caution in his voice. "Rickie you won't be offended if I don't call you for a while will you?"

"No I think that would be best."

"Good, Kate, Rick Bye, see you at lunch the next time you guys can make it."

'They wouldn't,' thought Kate. "Yes they would," she verbalized. "Castle you think they are tapping your cell calls don't you?"

"Yes, I would. Especially after the call yesterday. Now let's go see some lawyers about a list. At any rate we will know in a couple of days, maybe sooner." The short drive to the lawyer's office was made in frosty silence.

"Good morning Detective, Mr. Castle. You are early. Fortunately Mr. McIntire is available. He instructed me to have you wait in the small conference room. This way please. Can I get you something? Coffee, tea, water?  
"Water," croaked Kate her throat suddenly dry. The vibe she was getting from Castle was strange.

Calling the small conference room intimate, would have been an understatement. It was small, furnished with only a table and a couple of chairs. The carpets were thick and the wall art very suggestive, almost erotic and out of place for a lawyer's office.

"Good morning, and how is the most beautiful Detective in the NYPD," said the Senior Partner, Kevin McIntire completely ignoring Castle as he entered the room. "I knew you were smart enough to figure it out and be back. Beauty and brains all in a single package," he continued almost in a bedroom voice.

"You forgot brawn and guts," offered Castle. "She has the skill to kick both our asses and the guts to do it."

"Ah, Mr. Castle is it? I think the Detective and I can work through the list of companies without your help," said Kevin McIntire who looked every inch the successful lawyer today. All the way from his fresh haircut, past his exclusive blue pinstripe suit, down to his incredibly shined shoes, Kevin McIntire looked like a million bucks, and he was doing his best to try to impress Kate.

"My partner stays," said Kate in stone cold voice that rang with steel. "It's just that when I let him wander off by himself bad things happen. So I try to keep him close."

"Of course," said Mr. McIntire in a conciliatory tone of voice. Castle couldn't help but notice that when Kate handed him his list, he made a point of touching her hand.

'Great,' thought Kate. 'Twice in one day a handsome and rich guy comes on to me in front of my husband, and he does nothing," thought Kate as she looked at Castle. 'What do you expect him to do? You introduce him as your partner not your husband. Right after this we are talking this through' Kate promised herself.

Despite Kevin McIntire's numerous attempts to prolong the session and exclude Castle, Kate managed to work through the list. Kevin had identified two companies, one in a warehouse, and the other in an office building.

"Store front and management," offered Castle.

"Mr. McIntire," Detective Beckett began, "The NYPD thanks you for co-operation in this matter. If I could I would like to use the Conference Room for a couple of minutes. There are a couple of phone calls I need to make and I don't want to be overheard."

"Certainly Kate and you make come back and consult with me anytime you want. Oh, on this matter. It pains me to say the obvious. I'm not the only lawyer in Manhattan."

As soon as the door had closed Kate hit the speed dial. "Espo where are you?"

"In front of the murder board. Let me put you on speaker; Kevin is here, as is Special Agent Crockett, and Adams and Captain Gates. Oh, the FBI had two hits."

"So did we." The line went very silent when they confirmed that the hits were the same.

"Castle thinks Store front and Management," said Kate.

"We agree," said Captain Gates.

"It looks like we need two strike forces, and they need to be timed synced," said Castle.

"Captain," said Crockett. "The Bureau has a strike team ready and at your disposal. If I might suggest that the NYPD organize and hit the warehouse and let the FBI hit 'Management'."

"That sounds fine, but members of the NYPD will accompany your strike team."

"Of course Captain, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"That would be Beckett and Castle," offered Ryan.

"Detective…" started Captain Gates.

"Look Sir," said Esposito, "Right now those two have a thing for warehouses; I mean the first one Kate shot Castle, and on the second they almost blew up the bunch of us. I shudder to think what would happen if we let them go into a third warehouse."

"Beckett?"

"I'm good with that Sir. Esposito there will be consequences," Kate concluded with a touch of laughter in her voice.

"Ok we are probably going to have to work through lunch to make this happen. Ryan get the warrants. Esposito arrange for a SWAT Team, building blue prints traffic patterns etc., Crockett line up your assault team. Also we are going to need CSU to go end virtually on our heels, get that coordinate. Beckett get back here. I'll brief our management."

" I guess I'll do lunch," said Castle "JJ's for twenty? Delivered to the large conference room?"

"Make it thirty Castle," said the Captain.

"Done Sir, and May I suggest that we have a contingency team stand by just in case we learn something from the 'Management House.' I would hate to learn something then not have the manpower to successful prosecute it."

"Good idea," said the Captain. "Let's factor that into our strike planning. Good job people. Now let's plan to make this a very successful endgame."

After Castle had ordered lunch, Kate asked, "Castle does it bother you when guys hit on me like they did today?"

"Yes, but I'm not going to answer it here," he said pointing at the pictures and the rest of the features of the room. "Anyplace else but here."

"We need to finish this before we get back to the 12th."

"Yes, how about the Tea Room? It is on our way to the cruiser. We can grab an outside table and hide in plain sight."

"Good"

Luck was with them as they approached the hostess stand of the Tea House. It was a pleasantly warm day for mid-October and the sun, through high thin clouds added its warmth and there were several tables free outside. The Tea House was an indoor outdoor restaurant that catered to the breakfast and lunch crowds and featured sushi, bagels, over-priced sandwiches and tea. It was based on an oriental design and integrated a lot of fountains with running water, potted plants and screens to provide the diners with the sense that they dining in their own private alcove. As Castle was seating Kate he ordered two Green Teas with honey and lemon.

"Now where were we? Yes. Does it bother me when I see guys hitting on you? Of course it does. But that is not the question you want answered. You want to know why I don't react."

Kate sat back and sipped her tea. She thought it was a straight forward question. She really didn't know where Castle was going, but she know enough not to stop him.

"Kate this is a line of questioning that a male can't win. If I say yes and complain too much you might think that I don't trust you. If I say no it doesn't bother me and don't react you might think I am taking you for granted. Either way I lose. Since I really don't know what to do, all I'm going to say on the matter is that I love you Katherine Houghton Beckett Castle, and I hope that is enough."

"Castle…."

"Wait, I'm not through. I want to be a loving husband Kate. Not a jealous one. So each day, in the little things I try to tell you that I love you. So when things like this come up it's a non-issue. In the past several days I have been remiss, with the warehouse, and attempted murder and all, but have I told you I love you today?"

"Castle…" Kate was a little irritated when Castle overrode her for the second time.

"You know at first I used to feel sorry for the guys you know," Castle rambled. "Yes she is gorgeous, smart, and great in bed, but if you look at her left hand you will find a ring on a very significant finger I put the ring there because she said yes. So eat your hearts out. But each time it happens a small doubt would surface. What if she decides to stray? What would I do?"

"Castle….," Then Castle's words finally struck home. What was bothering her was the fact that Castle wasn't supporting her.

"And the situation stinks. How can I react when I'm introduced and your partner and not your husband, and I feel that if I jump in I would be preventing you from doing your job?"

Castle!" insisted Kate as she captured his hand in hers'. She lowered her head to get into Castle's field of view, for during the entire discussion he had not met her eyes. "Castle," she said again in a softer gentler tone. "Lose the fear. I will not leave you! Never, ever. I love you too much! …. Yes you told me you love me, and most days I don't tell you often enough….. And yes the situation stinks, but from now on I am going to introduce you as my husband. Let's see how they react to that."

For a few moments they enjoyed the music of the fountain, each other smiles, and the smell and taste of the tea.

"Castle, "Kate asked, "You never ask me about your female fans."

"I know you don't like it. I can see it in your eyes, how you hold your head, and hear it in your voice. I know you know that it is part of my job description. Just as trying to get information is in your job description. But I hope you know that I have and will always say no."

"Once you didn't," said Kate with a ghost of a smile.

"What? Who?"

"The entertainment reporter from the TV station."

"I was ambushed."

"That is what they call it now?"

"You aren't going to forgive me for that are you?"

"How about on our 50th wedding anniversary?"

"Deal," said Castle with a smile.

Kate took another sip of her tea and then started to chuckle. "You know Castle I'm going to take a page out of your book. Whenever I see any of your female fans come gushing forth I'm not going to get mad. I'm going to think 'Eat your hearts out Ladies. This man is taken. He is mine. Yes he is handsome, rich, intelligent, and great in bed and more. But if you look at his left hand you will find a ring on a very significant finger. It's mine. I put it there, and he will never ever take it off or dishonor it.'"

"I can live with that," said Castle.

They finished their tea in comfortable silence, accompanied by the sound of the rushing fountain, the sight of each other's smiles, and the gentle comfort of each other's hand.

All told the Castles' spent less than twenty minutes in the Tea House, and to them it was a twenty minutes well spent. As they were exiting the Tea House Mr. Murphy struck. He struck in the form of two reporters and a camera crew. "Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle any comments on the murder of your assailant as he returned from his arraignment hearing?" asked Mike one of the members of the Press that was at Kate's hearing.

"I had not heard that," said Detective Beckett.

"What about his ties to organized crime?" asked Susan?

"We had heard that he may have some low level connections," said Castle. "But I really don't know much more than that.

"Do you think Gino ordered the hit on you?"

"No," answered Castle quickly.

Even though the interview only lasted five minutes. It felt like five hours to the Castle's. They tried hard to answer the question while trying not to reveal any operational information. Finally Susan had had enough. "OK Pete kill the camera, Beth kill the audio. Off the record guys, off the record something is about to happen isn't it."

"Off the record," Kate repeated. "Two raids this afternoon. One on a warehouse the other on an office."

"And where would be the best place to watch the festivities?"

"Mike I'm not telling you that, not even off the record."

"Well," laughed Mike "I had to ask. Good hunting Detective, Mr. Castle…..Two raids she said," Mike repeated to Susan after the Castle's had left. "Two raids, that means we follow SWAT," they both said simultaneously.

**Chapter 13 Of Plans and shadows**

The Castle's made it back to Sergeant Beckett's desk before they encounter a somewhat irate Captain.

"I thought I told you to return. Not stop off for Tea and give an interview."

"Yes Sir," said Kate.

"I can explain," started Castle who stopped immediately when he received the all too familiar glare from the Captain and Kate's gentle warning touch.

"You see Sir," said Kate. "Mr. and Mrs. Castle urgently needed to discuss some matters that were a result of Mr. Castle observing issues involving Detective Beckett in the workplace." In the momentary period of silence that followed as Captain Gates tried to digest what Kate had said, "Castle could you grab us some lunch please."

"Kate you weren't….."

"No! You can tell because no one is in the hospital," Kate responded with a fond glance in Castle's direction. "No what happened is in two consecutive interviews the guy I was interviewing hit on me, blatantly and hard, and that threw both of us off our game. We had to resolve it before we went tactical."

"Getting hit on is something of an occupational hazard Detective."

"Not like this Sir. You see Castle was holding in his frustration, but I was getting angry with him for not stepping in."

"But he couldn't."

"Exactly!"

"Now?"

"Mrs. Castle is very pleased with her husband in this matter," started Kate with the touch of a smile. "She knows her husband's position on this matter and loves him for it. It should not happen again Sir. From now on Detective Beckett WILL introduce him as her husband. This will give him a little more freedom."

"Mr. Castle?"

"Understands that sometimes being his wife's shadow sucks."

With a slight chuckle, "OK, grab some lunch and join the planning session. We drew Captain Samson. So I'm sure the warehouse will be properly covered and the FBI lead seems competent, but you need to check in."

"Yes Sir."

Kate finished most of the sandwich and chips Castle had left for her at her desk and then walked into the large conference room where the raid on the warehouse was being planned. On one white board was the city traffic grid in the vicinity of the warehouse. Beside it was the timeline event list detailing who would be blocking and holding the intersection and for how long. In her mind's eye she could easily see the flow of the strike force into the vicinity around the warehouse and the trap shut as the traffic was constricted and routed through two face recognition points on each outbound leg. She was impressed when she read the assessment by the traffic engineers 'that if the lane restrictions are lifted by four-fifteen then the normal evening commute would not be adversely affected.' The flip side of the board showed the plan for dealing with the inflow CSU equipment and parking for the vehicles.

The next white board showed the floor plan of the warehouse. At first glance it appeared to be a smaller version of the warehouse the Castle's stumbled into. Like the other white board, the plan to enter and secure the facility was laid out. As Kate was studying the plan she felt a familiar presence behind her. Turning, she saw Captain Sampson and Castle watching her.

"Looks good," said Sergeant Beckett.

"A good start," the Captain agreed. "I understand you will be with the FBI team, Special Agent Larson seems pretty competent."

"I'll go over and introduce myself in a minute. I just wanted to be sure that Esposito and Ryan would be ok."

"Figured as much," said the Captain with a touch of amusement and respect.

"I thought Agent Larson's plan looked good," offered Castle. "As always my concern is no one's got your back Kate."

"I can solve that," said the Captain, "Sergeant Akins suit up. You will be going in with Sergeant Beckett. This will give you a chance to observe how the FBI does it, and Mr. Castle would certainly appreciate it if you looked after the Sergeant."

"Roger that," said Sergeant Akins with a grin. "Sergeant when you are ready, will go over and see how they plan to fit us in."

"Sergeant Akins is a new member of my Team and we have not had a chance to work him in yet."

"Looks like you are ready to go. What are you still doing here?" asked Castle.

"Waiting to brief the Brass," said the Captain with a degree of resignation. "The briefing is scheduled in about thirty minutes," he added. "The operation is scheduled to start at thirteen-forty five with us rolling into the buildings around thirteen fifty-two. Where are you going to be?" asked the Captain addressing Castle.

"The office building is right next to a small park of sorts. I mean it has a fountain, trees, flowers, and benches. One of those 'patches of green' that resulted from the Mayor's initiative to either renovate or demolish unused buildings desperately in need of repair," said Castle. "Unless someone objects," with a glance at Kate, "I plan to wait at the assembly area then walk into the park when the operation starts and loiter there until I'm cleared into the site."

The Captain watched Kate digest the plan and nod. "What about back up?"

"The plan has a pair of Uniforms walking into the east end of the park as part of crowd control. I plan to keep them in sight so I should be covered. Also I'm going to ask Ryan to make me up a picture ID book. Maybe some of our bad guys will be outside on their laptops and phones enjoying the fall weather."

"That's not a bad idea," said Captain Samson. "What did Agent Larson think about using the Uniforms to do a sweep of the park at the same time as he is breeching the building?"

"I really didn't bring it up Sir," said Castle. "The FBI gets awful touchy when an outsider comments on one of their plans."

"Yeah," agreed Captain Sampson. "In this case you are a double outsider, non-FBI and a non-sworn civilian with no perceived experience. Still the picture book and walking through the park is a good idea. Sergeant Akins, work with Detective Ryan to get copies of the picture ID book made and delivered to the guys from the 21st. The plan may not allow them to walk through the park, but at least they can look at those leaving the site and see if any are of interest."

"Doesn't sound too bad," said Kate. "But nobody really has your back."

"That would be us," said Sergeant Johnson with a nod toward Officer Hastings as they walked up and joined the conversation. "The Captain assigned us the 'Castle watch'."

"We volunteered actually," said Officer Hastings.

"Castle watch?" asked Special Agent Crockett who had joined the group along with Detectives Ryan and Esposito. "I'm supposed to 'fetch' you for Agent Larson," continued Crockett making eye contact with Sergeant Beckett, "but this 'Castle watch' thing sounds…."

"Every time we do one of these major tactical things I put Castle on the bench," explained Kate.

"And weird things happen," offered Ryan.

"Last time it was four broken ribs, two bruised ribs, and a bruised kidney," said Esposito.

"No wonder you need a keeper Mr. Castle," said Crockett.

"No, that was the bad guy," said Kate with a touch of pride. "The bad guy wasn't in the apartment that we breeched," said Kate. "Castle was outside waiting in my cruiser. He saw the guy approach the building, notice the police cars and start to walk away."

"I got out of the cruiser and followed him," said Castle

"Ran him down is more like it," said Sergeant Johnson with a dry chuckle, "and a fine tackle it was. When Castle got out of the car and started to walk away from the building we wondered why and followed. The quarry spotted us and bolted and Castle ran him down."

"Another time it was two members of the gang of the headquarters we were raiding," offered Captain Sampson.

"And Officers Hastings and Johnson saved my ass that day," conceded Castle.

"So you see Special Agent Crockett," said Officer Hastings with a grin. "We volunteered for the 'Castle watch' assignment because we will probably see as much action as the breeching Team without all of the preparatory stress, just the tactical panic" with a bit of laughter by all.

"The first time it was a guy going down the fire escape," said Kate looking at Castle, "that you ran down, but he took you hostage, and I thought I would have to do a ton of paperwork. From then own it just seemed to get worse. Now I don't worry about who's got my back anymore, I worry about who has yours. …." Shifting her gaze, "Crocket how about you introduce me to Special Agent Larson so he can talk me through the plan for the office building before the brass gets here. You two," continued Kate looking at Johnson and Hastings, "try to keep him out of trouble."

"Why do you want us to push on a rope?" asked Sergeant Johnson.

As the impromptu meeting broke up, some went to study the plan for the office building breech, and the others went to build the picture Id books. Captain Sampson turned around and looked at the white boards detailing his plan. 'It's good,' he thought. 'Now what are the 'Murphy' points?'

When Castle heard who the VIPs were that were coming for the briefing he panicked for a second. One of the things that he definitely did not want to screw-up was his ability to shadow Kate and with the Mayor leaving office after the elections he would not have top cover any more. All the VIPs, the two Chiefs, the Inspectors, and the Captains all thought like Captain Gates. Namely that civilians had no business being a part of Police Operations. Individually they were OK, but as a group they might go into a feeding frenzy so he thought he would retreat to the gym and kill two birds with one stone. Be out of sight so he would not provide a flash point for the VIPs and get a workout in.

As Castle was walking into the locker room LT was just finishing dressing.

"Kate?" he asked.

"Topside," responded Castle, "waiting for the VIPs."

"So you are being paranoid," joked LT.

"Cautious," laughed Castle. "I know I have a good thing and I don't want to screw it up. I'm pretty sure that some of the folks would resent me being there, so out of sight out of mind. Besides I don't need 'face time' with the brass. You guys do."

"You are right about face time," said LT with a slight look of disgust. "You probably have the place to yourself. A lot of people are going to be at the briefing whether they belong there or not. Well let's hope the places you guys came up with are the correct targets and the operation goes off without a hitch," said LT as he strode out of the room.

'Me too,' thought Castle, 'me too.'

Due to the large number of people the briefings were moved into the Detective's bull pen area. Kate was amazed at the number of people and departments present. I think the only departments not here are the Chaplin's and HR. Wait a Chaplin is here, concluded Kate. I just hope these targets pan out. It could be a major embarrassment if they don't. She let Esposito talk through yesterday's conversation about warehouses, alarms, and call back numbers, the tip the exploding warehouse and the subsequent data release from the Security Company. She talked about how, with Agent's Adam's help and the input from the lawyer they were able to narrow the list down to these two, but the other 'hits' need to be examined. Ryan talked about the need to have CSU closely follow the strikes to identify other places and hit them before they had the opportunity to move. At the end of his brief, Captain Sampson said that they had Captain's Hanson's TAC-Team on standby and would be ready to respond. A second Team would have to come from precinct resources. Special Agent Larson's briefing was also well received.

Most of the questions asked dealt with details of the assault plan and the need for quickly flowing in the CSU folks for targeted exploitation of any information that may be present. She saw Red, Inspector O'Donnell, grimace when Esposito answered "Castle" to question of who thought of using callback numbers as a fingerprint to suspicious activity. "But it seems like such an easy question to ask," said the Inspector.

"Now," said Special Agent Crockett. "For the first couple of days we focused on solid observables. I am convinced that if we kept going down that path we would eventually end here. If these pan out, which I think they will, then Castle's suggestion will have saved us a week at least maybe more." Kate watched the Agent's eyes search the room for Castle. Eventually they stopped on her. Kate shook her head no and the Agent nodded his understanding. 'A civilian in a double agency fight would not stand a chance,' thought Crockett. 'Smart to stay out of the line of fire.'

"Good work people," offered the Chief. "Now let's execute these raids properly, capture the people, hopefully the leadership, and get this stuff off of our streets."

As the 'Leadership' adjourned to the Captain's office, the Detectives, with twenty-five minutes to 'roll time' had more than enough time to prepare. When Castle got off of the elevator he found the place still packed with VIPs and others. No one wanted to leave before the Chiefs. Castle slowly made his way to Kate's desk. The Team plus Johnson and Hastings was waiting there. As he approached Kate held out his vest.

"I can't wear that," Castle said, "I'm walking in and I would attract too much attention."

"Son, this is NYC," Sergeant Johnson countered. "Unless you are insanely famous or a drop dead gorgeous woman wearing only this no one will care. You might get a second look or two, but no one will run a way screaming. Hell with your following you might even start a fashion trend."

Castle, knowing he was outgunned slowly empted his jacket pockets, shrugged off his jacket and put on the vest. Kate saw Hastings' eyes widen in shock then narrow, and her hit nod in appreciation as Castle laid his baton on the desk. Hastings had been of the opinion that teaching Castle the baton was a waste of time. Now she was in the Esposito camp as far as fighting Castle when he has a baton is concerned, namely with a gun at a safe distance. No one said a word as they watched Kate help Castle put on with his vest and lovingly make sure all of the straps and pocket flaps were sealed. "You stay safe," he said.

"I got a whole FBI team with me," she replied "You stay safe."

"What are we burnt toast?" said Sergeant Johnson in mock anger.

"Let's get out of here," said Esposito. "I do not want to hear a last minute pep talk. Ready Bro?"

"Right behind you," said Ryan as he led the way to the elevator. On the street the Team split into its two elements. Ryan and Esposito left to cover the warehouse raid, and Castle and Beckett right to cover the office building raid.

**At the Warehouse**

Captain Sampson's raid went off without a hitch, and seemed to be a great success. Elements of the Team hit the freight and personnel entrances simultaneously and moved through the warehouse in a faultless manner and maintained their advantage of surprise. Their speed of movement did not afford the personnel much time to react. The security detail was quickly overwhelmed, and the 'office' staff did not have time to dump their computers or to start to shred documents.

The haul was pretty good. They found a large amount of drugs and cash, computers and active phones, and fifteen people. They even found a group in a separate room cutting the drugs and preparing the packages for retail delivery making the total personnel catch twenty-one.

Ryan's interview of the Fed Ex driver and the parent organization was revealing. When the company was pulsed they were able to tell Ryan the Fed Ex van's location and describe the driver. When Ryan told them that they were confiscating the packages picked up at this location and wanted the fact to be withheld for a couple of days he was transferred to the Site Manager.

"Look," Ryan said, "we asked the questions because if they can use a fake armored car to take money to a bank, what is to stop them from using a fake Fed EX truck to make their retail deliveries? After all no one would ever question it."

"That could explain it," the site manager said. "Look Detective when you get a chance come on down. It sounds like we need to discuss some things. Oh, we will show the package in process for a week or so if you need it. I assume that you think they are using ask to make their drug deliveries."

"Yes"  
"Detective, call and come down. It seems like we do need to talk."

"Fake Fed Ex trucks, that's pure….," started Esposito.

"Castle, I know. I heard him tell Beckett and Crockett that is how he would do it. He also said he would buy a short haul freight company, and one of the long haul terminals. With that in place tracking and shipping the drugs would be impossible. Heaven knows they have the money to do so."

"If they go back to conventional security methods, there will be no observables," said Esposito.

"Combine that with the bank purchases and these guys become practically invisible," added Ryan.

"They still will slip up," said Esposito, "and we will find them."

They felt relieved when the CSU folks arrived and started attacking the computers and phones.

**Office Building Raid**

**A walk in the Park**

At the assembly point Castle got out of the front seat of the cruiser as Sergeant Akins got in. Even though Castle was walking the four blocks to the park he still would probably arrive ahead of the FBI and get the watch the show. He was supposed to sit on the bench on the north east side of the park, Johnson and Hastings would park in the loading zone right behind him and have a clear view of Castle until he left and went into the building.

As Castle walked toward the park he enjoyed a glorious Indian summer afternoon. Warm, but not too hot, light breeze and the sky was a beautiful blue. Castle had to admit that Sergeant Johnson was right. No one paid him a bit of increased attention. 'I'm Richard Castle' he wanted to shout.' I'm a famous author' he wanted to scream.' Instead he maintained his steady pace, found his seat, pulled out his phone and began studying the body language of people in the park and their faces.

As the FBI pulled up Castle watched two people, a man and a woman, stop and then retreat toward a table where another couple was sitting and using their laptops. Thumbing through the pictures on his phone he found matches for all four. Turning to face his 'watchers' Castle pointed at his phone and nodded and then looked deliberately at the table were the two couples was sitting. He concentrated on the people at the table, even as he heard the slam of the Blue& White's doors.

Hastings was able to confirm two of the people from the ID book Ryan had made before she left the cruiser. She and her partner, a Sergeant with over twenty-six years of street experience, slowly walked into the park, past Castle and toward the table where the four were sitting. The people at the table looked up saw the cops approaching and bolted abandoning their laptops. Johnson and Hastings gave chase and Castle was close behind. When the foursome split into two groups the officers followed the group on the left and Castle the group on his right. As Castle, in pursuit of his pair, wondered how he would handle both he spied members of the detail who had crowd control running to intercept them.

As the woman he was pursuing stumbled, Castle was able to push her to the ground and launch himself at the other guy. He barely managed to grab a leg. As his arms slipped down he took a foot to his left cheek for his trouble. Castle rolled wrong and his shoulder impacted a tree. He held on and eventually he was able to bring the man down. Moments later he heard the command from the officers present to halt what he was doing.  
"These people are wanted in conjunction with the drug warehouse," gasped Castle. "You have their pictures in the ID books the 12th sent over," he continued still short of breath.

The officer's deliberations were interrupted by the arrival of Johnson and Hastings with their prisoners in tow. "Castle, good, you caught them," said Officer Hastings. "That was a great tip-off you gave us." The following moment of silence was broken by Officer Blake's radio going off. Beckett was calling the detail for information concerning the whereabouts of Castle, Johnson and Hastings.

**Running with the Big Dogs**

Kate watched Castle walk off with mixed emotions. She was proud of him, for all of the constraints; he was doing everything he could to be by her side, and a little bit worried. He was Castle after all and trouble and he always seemed to be on a first name basis. 'Just not today again' Kate hoped remembering the early morning bomb attempt. 'Not today'.

When the lead vehicle moved, Kate accelerated to follow. She smiled when the two Blue & Whites peeled off and blocked the exits from the underground garage. She admired the precision of the Team and the Plan as the Team flowed through the lobby, locked down the elevators, left a rear guard and preceded up the steps to their target on the fifth floor.

As the Team burst through the stairway doors on the fifth level, they startled the receptionist to speechlessness. The  
power and efficiency of the Team was lost on the occupants. One of the persons they captured was playing WoW on the machine and the other was actually preparing a quarterly financial presentation. Kate was secretly pleased at the red that was on the chart.

"Special Agent Larson, it looks like we can call in the CSU folks," suggested Sergeant Beckett. "Guys, that's try to keep the computer's active. If we can we can help make CSU's job easier. And let's separate the prisoners and start talking to them separately. "

"Ok, Do it," waved the obviously disappointed Special Agent.

"Remember," said Kate in an attempt to bolster everyone's spirit's "We may have missed some of the people, but we got their data network intact and that should prove to be very valuable. Until CSU gets here let's try to find if they mention any other places, meetings, bills, deliveries anything," she continued. 'I need Castle to look at the offices and help me with the interviews,' Kate thought as she speed dialed her husband. 'He is pretty good at reading the man by examining the office, and he always asks questions I never think of. When it went to voice mail she was worried. Castle, why don't you pick up?'

"One William Seventeen this is One Mary Forty –Seven, over," said Kate as she tried Sergeant Johnson's radio.

"One William Seventeen this is One Mary Forty –Seven, over," Kate repeated.

"One Yankee Nineteen this is One Mary Forty-Seven, there are two members of the 12th and a civilian in a blue flak jacket with 'WRITER' stenciled on it do you have eyes on them over?"

"Tell Mother Goose that we bagged four strays, her chick knows all of the details and will be with her shortly."

Officer Blake did not know who was at the other end of the radio, but on this end was a bear of a Sergeant with service hash marks on his shirt sleeve that went on forever. He was accompanied by an Amazon in Blue whose physical carriage just oozed confidence, and a civilian dressed in a flak jacket that had just ran down two bad guys, and all of them were eyeing him like chopped meat. He relayed the message verbatim.

"Copy four strays. Tell Castle to move it he has work to do, over"

"Ask Mother Goose if she wants to talk to the strays here or at the house?" asked Castle.

"House is fine," came the replay.

As Castle headed towards the building he heard, "We will take the prisoners to the transport van Sergeant," said Officer Blake. "Who is Mother Goose and who is that guy? I mean come on, a civilian running down bad guys?"

"Mother Goose is Sergeant Kate Beckett, the best Homicide Detective in the city. The other guy is her husband Richard Castle," said Sergeant Johnson in a matter-of-fact tone. "Two of the best. One is a sworn officer, the other just is."

As Castle walked under the awning shadowing the entrance to the office building he noticed ADA Debora Kane hurrying to catch up with him. "My boss liked your suggestion," she said with a hurried smile. "He chose the warehouse where all the Brass will be and I got this place."

"You are just in time," said Castle as he held the door for her. "They have secured the place and have called for CSU, but they haven't arrived yet." Entering the lobby Castle walked over to the two agents that had pulled the rear guard duty. "Have the elevators been released yet?" he asked.

"Coming on line now Sir and you are?"

"Castle and ADA Kane, Sergeant Beckett should be expecting us. Well me at least."

The agent nodded and pressed the 'UP' button. They had been briefed to expect Castle and an ADA was not something they wanted to trifle with. If Special Agent Larson objected, he could do so upstairs. Kate's head turned when she heard the ding of the elevator. She smiled and then frowned. 'Why is it Castel is always escorting woman?' Kate thought when she saw the ADA. 'On the other hand I am always surrounded by men,' she concluded. 'Wait, is that blood?' In a flash Kate was by his side with a tissue in her hand. She did ask, but here eyes pleaded 'Are you ok?'

"I missed my tackle and had to eat a shoe," Castle offered. "The only thing really hurt is my pride," he added.

"And the 'Castle Watch' bagged four," laughed Sergeant Akins.

"Castle Watch?" asked the ADA.

"Explain later," said Kate. "Right now I what you with me as we conduct a couple of interviews and then I want you to walk the office spaces and give me your opinion. "

Kate opened a door to an office door that on the outside had the nametag Henry Jacobs and the Title Chief Account. The FBI agent in attendance had MR. Jacobs cuffed and sitting at a round conference table that could easily seat four. Mr. Jacobs appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. He was around five-ten and one-fifty five and in excellent condition. His dark brown hair was cut short, and his brown eyes appeared to be guarded behind his glasses.

"Good afternoon Mr. Jacobs or is it Mr. Jobs?" said Sergeant Beckett as she pointed at a drivers license displayed in front of him.

"I want a lawyer."

"We have already met, but this is ADA Kane and Mr. Castle. When we came, he was preparing a monthly financial report. Imagine my surprise when I read the report said they had experienced a loss due to 'unexpected police activity.' "

"Really," said Castle with a touch of glee in his voice. "How much did we do?"

"I said I want a lawyer."

"Pity. OK, Agent please take him down to the van for transport to the precinct for processing. Castle you can read the report back at the station house. "

The next office they entered was that of William Kelso, IT Support.

Like Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Kelso was hand-cuffed and sitting at a round conference table. As the Beckett party entered the Agent nodded and left.

"Mr. Kelso I am Sergeant Beckett. This is ADA Debora Kane and my husband Mr. Castle. We when arrested William he was playing WoW."

"Really? What level?"

"Castle," chided Kate.

"It's Bill please, 27th level and will someone please explain to me why I am sitting in my office in hand cuffs. I have done nothing wrong." To Castle Bill Kelso looked like a geeky kid that was maybe twenty-one. He was tall, maybe 6-4 or 6-5 and thin, one seventy max. His long blonde hair seems to flow everywhere and the intelligence behind his eyes was unmistakable

"Well Bill," said Castle. "The company you are working for is a major illegal drug supplier to NYC. We busted the first warehouse almost a week ago and our Team is busting the second one today, and we would love to hear your story."

Kate watched Bill deflate as Castle finished his narrative. "I knew it was too good to be true. Look Detective", he said "All I did was specify and supervise the installation of the IT networks at a couple of warehouses, a garage and an apartment. I had no idea what the product was they were selling. That is until you guys took down one of the warehouses. I set up the printers, their computers, and loaded software onto their machines and provided a robust firewall to protect the site here from intrusion. As I said I did not really know what it was we were selling. From the brochures on Ellen's desk I thought we were a toy importer and distributor. That is until you guys took down one of the warehouses I did the installation in. "

"We are going to need the addresses," said Detective Beckett in a dead calm voice.

"Sure they are in my Engineering Notebook, somewhere between pages four and twelve."

Once the addresses had been extracted Sergeant Beckett looked at the ADA "Debora could you...?"

"Absolutely," she said scooping up the addresses and heading for a quiet room.

"Sergeant?"

"Certainly! Which party to do you want to attend?"

"The apartment," Beckett responded.

"On it," he said as he left the room.

"Can you help me out here?" asked Bill. "I really didn't do anything wrong. When I found out that the warehouse was a drug house I was going to quit. But the money was too good and I was afraid. Look I can give you the System Administrator password for all of the networks. "

"Notebook?" asked Castle.

"Do I look that stupid," Bill responded.

After he had dictated the three passwords Kate said, "Tell us your story."

"Simple. I graduated last June and answered an ad for a bi-lingual IT Administrator that was willing to learn Portuguese. And before you ask I do not know why Portuguese. I installed the networks during the summer. Now I come to work and have nothing to do. So I study to expand my network admin credentials and I play games. I go to language class with Ellen, the receptionist, every morning from nine to ten. That is the extent of my involvement Detective. "

Kate probed for several minutes then finally relented. "Bill it looks like you are going to have to find another job. I'll going to have you sent to our station house, processed and then you are going to give your statement to another Detective. Just tell them what you told me and you will be fine. After you sign it we will cut you lose. I want you to remember that the next time you think something is too good to be true it probably is."

"Look, this also provides you some cover," added Castle. " We found the addresses in your Notebook. You are not a stool pigeon, just an engineer that properly documented his work."

Their next stop was a small conference room in which a beautiful young woman set behind the table reading a book and making notes. Her backpack was to her left and open. Once again the Agent guarding her acknowledged the interrogation team and left. She is maybe 21 thought Kate and her short black hair, beautiful face with dazzling green eyes and voluptuous figure made a perfect piece of eye candy. 'Just what an outfit like this looks for in a receptionist,' conclude Detective Beckett.

"I am …."

"Sergeant Kate Beckett, he is your husband Richard Castle and you are?" said the receptionist as she looked at ADA Kane.

"I'm ADA Debora Kane, and Detective the party favors have been ordered."

"I'm Ellen Hayes and I work here as the receptionist. The only reason Sergeant Beckett would be here with a FBI breeching Team is that she thinks that this facility is somehow connected to the drug warehouse. Am I right Detective?"

"Yes you are," said Kate somewhat impressed.

"What's your story," asked Castle.

"Easy, I answered an ad for a bi-lingual receptionist. Slept with Mr. Jacobs and got the job. So far the hardest part of the job has been fending off of their advances."

"What is a third-year law student like yourself taking a job like this?" asked the ADA.

"Yes NYU, How? Oh the book on torts."

"I like eating, there aren't many internship for NYU students, and here I have plenty of time to prepare for class," grossed Ellen.

"Is Professor Sanders your advisor?"

"No Professor Canter."

"Excuse me for a minute," said the ADA.

"Well Detective I can run you through my impressions of everyone that works here on a regular basis, what their job descriptions and job titles are according to the organization chart and the 'cover story' that I am supposed to give to people who actually come see us. But I cannot help you with any 'drug' related information. Because frankly I don't know of any and I never heard anyone talk about it. Oh they would talk about shipments, inventories, cash –flow, suppliers, delivers, margins and competitors, but really nothing that I could say that this a facility for managing drug warehouses."

"Talk to me about the people," said Kate. Ten minutes later Sergeant Beckett had a real good feel for how this company really operated.

The ADA came back in and listened as Ellen finished her tale about her co-workers. At the end she said, "Ellen this is my card. At eight-thirty tomorrow morning you are going to meet me at my office. I'm going to introduce you to my boss and several other ADA's. I will take you to lunch. After that you need to go to the 12th find Detective Beckett and repeat this story for the record. And by four-thirty I will call you and tell you if you have a job as an intern at the DA's office. That is if you are interested."

"Yes please," Ellen whispered as she reached out with a trembling hand. "If I may ask? Why?"

"I was a third year law student once and I had to make….choices," said the ADA in a small voice.

"Come on Ellen I will walk you out and be sure you get home ok," said Kate. "Castle I need you to tour the office spaces and tell me what you think."

"Detective before we go I would like to ask one small favor of your husband."

"Ok," said Kate a little confused.

"Mr. Castle could you autograph my book? I know you hear this all of the time, but I am one of your best fans and frankly Nikki is one of the reasons I want to become a lawyer."

"Sure," said Castle "and I must admit this is the first time I have heard the lawyer bit before."

As Kate, Deborah and Ellen were waiting for the elevator they were hailed by Sergeant Akins. "The party has been booked. We need to leave within ten in order to meet at the assembly point."

"Good," said Kate with a smile no advisory would want to see. "Collect Castle when he is done and meet us downstairs."

"Yes Sir," answered the Sergeant without a moment's thought.

Once the elevator doors had closed Detective Beckett asked," Ellen why did you ask me if you could ask a favor of my husband?"

"It seemed like the right thing to do. I mean in that room you were in control. We I see pictures of you guys in the papers it seems like Castle is in control and I asked myself how could an alpha like you let that happen. Here you were in control. Now I see why you two are so together. You understand your role and situation and stay within it."

Kate was speechless as the elevator descended to ground level. In the lobby they met with Officers Johnson and Hastings."Guys this Ellen Hayes, please ensure that she gets home ok and then you are released back to your normal duties."

"I thought there was going to be another 'Castle watch' event'" said Hastings.

"Castle watch?" asked the ADA.

"I'll explain later. There is, but Castle is not going to see the light of day on this one," said Kate in a firm voice. "I mean we almost got blown up this morning, and then he tried to eat a shoe on a walk in the park this afternoon. I'm not going to risk him again."

"He is not going to like that," said Johnson.

"I'll help him get over it," said Kate firmly.

"Mother Goose indeed," whispered Hastings as they escorted Helen to their Blue & White.

"Officer Hastings I'm surprised at you. You should not refer to a superior officer using such a nickname."

"Yes papa-bear," she laughed.

On the way to the assembly point for the apartment raid Detective Beckett asked, "well Castle what do you think about the office?"

"No real management works there," he said "Kate we have interviewed hundreds of shop owners, business owners, CEO's and so far all of their offices have one thing in common, it was alive it was an extension of them. The mahogany row offices at that place were sterile at best. No I'm afraid that whoever is running the NYC business doesn't work there. Right now I don't think they reside in the city."

"I thought so too," Kate confirmed. "I was afraid about that."

Sergeant Akins looked on dejectedly.

At the assembly point the Lieutenant Brand's brief was short and to the point. "In three minutes we roll. We will be met at the site by Officers out of the 15th. Entering the site the Team will take the stairs up to the third floor. A pair of officers from the 15th will accompany us. Taylor and Ellis will call down and lock down the elevators. They will ride one of the elevators up and join us on the third. The target door is the third one on the left. From the floor plans, the layout is similar to training room five. So at the main hallway we split into two sections, one to clear the master bedroom complex and the other the rest of the unit. Number and capability of the hostiles is unknown. Remember the three S's. Let's be Safe, Swift, and Sure as we clear the rooms. CSU is scheduled here fifteen minutes after we breech. So let's get it done on time but in a safe manner. Questions?"

"I'm assuming I'm.

"In the Command Vehicle with the ADA," Mr. Castle. Oh and the Captain would appreciate it if his Command Vehicle wasn't damaged," concluded the Lieutenant with a huge grin.

"And Sergeant Akins, you are still responsible for the Sergeant," added the Lieutenant.

"Roger that," he replied.

The raid went off with only one hitch, no one was home. As Castle got off of the elevator in response to Kate's summon he heard her ask the Officers of the 15th to contact the super and canvass the neighbors. "Detective there still are picture ID books in the truck if you think that would help the officers."

"Can't hurt," she replied

"Key's please," Castle said.

Beckett underhanded the keys to Castle and said "I've only got a quarter tank so don't go cruising."

"Be right back," he said waving the keys in the air.

"When did the other party start?" she asked the Lieutenant.

"Ten-minutes ago, so they may have their cells back on by now," he advised. "Chatter says it went off without a hitch."

"Good. I'll check in with them later after Castle has a chance to walk through the place."

"CSU will be here in ten, so you need to hurry," advised Beckett when Castle returned with her keys. "Gloves? Come back and tell me what you see."

"Detective," asked the ADA "What will Castle see that you missed?"

"It's not that I missed anything, although sometimes I do, but how I interpret what I see. I'm trained as a Detective to look for clues, for things out of place, out of the normal. Castle, on the other hand is a story teller. He thinks in terms of stories. He can take the ordinary and turn it into a story. Often that story leads us to ask a question we didn't think of. That leads us to a clue we wouldn't have normally found and so on." Beckett and Kane stood aside as CSU rushed in.

"Detective what exactly are we looking for?" asked Tom Brand the leader for this CSU Team.

"Tom we don't know who lives here. We are pretty sure they are involved in the setting up and running the drug warehouses we uncovered in the city. Perhaps the canvass will give us some clues there. If you wind anything that could lead us to make identification that would be great."

"Ok unique clothing labels, laundry marks or tags, receipts, ticket stub, maybe a unique cosmetic, got it. Anything else?"

"Perhaps from their clothes a general body description?"

"Sure, and maybe hair color from their brushes. Ok. Your fishing blind and you want to know what bait to use and where the fish may have gone to."

"Pretty much. Can you help? "

"It depends on what they left us Detective, it depends. Ah Mr. Castle. Didn't touch anything did you?"

"Everything Tom, but the boss made sure I had gloves on before I entered the room," Castle joked as he held up his gloved hands.

"Well?" asked Detective Beckett.

"Nice apartment. I wonder what they paid. I mean it's got both east and south facing windows and the view of the park is pretty good. The apartment is set-up well and it's look like they got a lot of space. "

"What about the people?" asked the ADA.

"The master bed room had a man and a woman. Husband and wife maybe? Lovers certainly. They are very comfortable with each other. The other room had a male and an occasional female guest or guests."

"How do know that?" asked Kane.

"Clothes and hair care products. The closet contained mostly men's clothes. The female clothes were a six and eight. No two fashion styles were the same. So I am assuming separate women. Also the hair care products were for different types of hair. The numbers of different types of products would seem to indicate that the 'dry hair' lady spent the most time here."

"Also no one here cooked. The fridge contained cold cuts, milk and beer. The freezer, TV Dinners and pot pies, and the cupboards, cereal, microwave soup, pop-tarts, and pop-corn. Bachelors eat better than this. "

"There trash was mostly from take-out. They seemed to be fond of the Italian place right around the corner. If we snag a receipt or two we might get lucky."

"OK I missed the receipts, we can collect them. What else?" asked Kate?

"There is nothing of a personal nature here. No books. No magazines, No CD's. No DVDs. No personal electronics nothing. I know when I travel I have my phone and probably my laptop and tablet, but these guys have nothing, and I find that strange. Another thing, their bags are still in the closet so I am assuming that they are still in the city."

"I noticed that. Anything else?"

"At first I thought this is the type of place you would let your advance team use to set-up the facilities and then turn it over to your site manager. But now I'm not too sure. Right now it seems to be used like a ….."

"Sleep spot?"

"Exactly, oh everything in here is leased. Perhaps the company can help us out with a description of the people who came in. I wonder if they had a maid service for the general cleaning because it looked fairly clean."

"Got that and the cleaning crew would be something a company would do for a company apartment. Anything else?"

"No, just disappointment. How did Esposito and Ryan do?"

"Don't know. I was going to wait until we got through here before I called. The LT said the raid went smoothly."

"Esposito, is Ryan nearby? How did you guys do?"

"I'm here," Ryan said, "You guys first."

"We got nothing major. We do have some small things to check, but unless CSU creates a miracle this place was a bust. What about you guys?"

"It looks like they cleared out of here quick. We found the safe open with some money still left inside. We also found Castle's armored car, two Fed Ex vans and a partially completed UPS truck. The FBI guys think you are a genius," said Ryan.

"We told them that the law of averages finally caught up with you. You have been wrong so many times in the past that you had to get one right," added Esposito.

"Anyway you have the FBI and Homeland Security in a panic. The problem is how do you spot a fake van? Those things are so widely accepted it's scary," added Ryan.

"I know I've put that into my next book. They have a solution?"

"Don't know. They saw those things and the phones worked overtime. I guess we will find out soon enough. You guys need to come down and see the place."

"I'm going to have to do that and the warehouse tomorrow. Right now I think we all need to head back and start processing the paperwork on these guys. I know there are some of them we need to talk to before they think to lawyer up," said Detective Beckett.

"Roger that," said Ryan. "It's going to be a long night."

"And after such an explosive morning," added Castle.

"Bro, your humor is weak," retorted Esposito. "See you guys back at the house."

**Chapter 14 – Families, Paperwork and follies **

The noise from the bull-pen assaulted the Castles as soon as the elevator doors opened. The place was controlled chaos. Captain Gates had called in the troops to help process and book the people they had collected in the raids.

"Good, Detective. Take a moment, catch your breath, and then jump in. You know what we need to do and by when," Captain Gates called as a greeting.

"Yes, Sir," Detective Beckett replied.

"What can I do to help?" asked Castle.

"You know I can't let you 'touch' a legal form, but you could write the narratives on the raids and I could paste them in. That lets me concentrate on the processing paperwork."

"Ok," said Castle as he moved to a visitor's terminal, logged in on his consultant account and began writing narratives about the two raids. He had just finished the apartment narrative and forwarded it to Kate when Amy, their nanny called. It was her class night and none of the two 'normal' baby-sitters were available and Martha had a business dinner so…"I'm on my way home," Castle said.

Searching, he saw Kate at the murder board with several other people and it looked like it was going to be a long discussion, so he texted. "Amy-class 0 b-sitters, home, love u."

Kate frowned when she saw Castle enter the elevator; she quickly checked her phone, read the text, nodded to herself and then got back to business. Unfortunately, Castle's exit was observed by the Inspector.

"Civilians," said the Inspector loudly and with disgust. "Where is he going? Doesn't he know there is work to be done?"

"He is heading home to take care of his son," offered Kate.

"You would think a man like that would marry a woman responsible enough to look after her children," he blurted as he stomped off toward the break room.

Esposito and Ryan turned their heads and looked at Kate. She was furious but she shook her head no at their silent question. This was not the time or place, and besides the Inspector had hit on a sore point with Kate. She was unhappy with the amount of time she was spending with her son. It is one thing to say you are going to let your husband be Mr. Mom and quite another to see it happen. She certainly felt a bond with James, but still. "Not a word," she hissed. "I'll tell Castle in my own way."

They both nodded. 'This place is tough enough,' thought Ryan. 'We definitely don't need this.'

"Let's try to get on top of this mess," offered Kate as she went back to her desk and waded into the paperwork. When her phone went off she was surprised that it was seven-fifteen. "Castle," she said.

"In case you haven't thought about it, eat. I'll leave you something in the Crockpot for you when you get home, but you guys need to eat. Do you want be to order something and have it delivered?"

"Guys, big brother is on the phone and wants to know if we are hungry," laughed Kate. " He'll place the delivery order."

"Chinese, Italian, Mexican?" offered Esposito.

When Ryan didn't say anything, "Ok," said Kate. "Castle how about Italian for twenty? We can do drinks from the machine."

"Done," he said, "James is fine. Right now he is playing with his blocks. I'm making great progress on Bob's book. At this rate I'll be done and into the editor by Election Day. This means, I will only have to write the Afterword. I'll write it as a challenge and an offering of hope to the new Mayor. And I have an idea for my next book. How is it going? Should I wait up?"

"Give James a kiss before bed for me. No. Don't wait up. I'm afraid it is going to be a late night."

When Kate got of the cruiser and headed toward the entryway of the Loft she felt proud of the work they had done today, and yet something was off. She could not put her finger on it, but something was off. She shrugged and trusted her instincts. It would reveal itself soon enough. She nodded to the night Doorman as he held the door open for her and she hurried across the foyer toward the elevators that would carry her up to the Loft, to home, and to her men.

Kate checked the log before she locked up. Yes Martha was in. Personalized key cards, a little more expensive, but worth it, thought Kate especially after they had locked Castle up when 3XK almost successfully framed him. She checked the mail. Who would have thought that the mail would be one of their first fights? Castle was used to sorting the mail and taking his portion to his office. Kate was insistent that she see it all. Castle caved and now Kate sorted and delivered Castle's mail to his office.

The Fed Ex package was from his publisher, probably a number of fan letters that were interesting and they think he should see and perhaps respond to. The other stuff was just the normal. Stopping at the dining area she noticed a place setting laid out in front of her chair. On it were a bowl, a spoon, a water glass and a vase containing a single rose. 'Where did he get the rose?' Kate asked herself. Checking the Crockpot she saw one of her favorites. Chicken and noodles, with all kinds of vegetables. It was simple, filling, good, surprising nutritious and one of her favorites. Castle I love you, she vocalized. Searching her mind she did not feel the familiar presence of Castle or her son. I'm tired and they are asleep she thought, but I'm going to check just to make sure.

Rushing to the bedroom, she silently opened the door. Castle was sprawled out on the bed, and his breathing was off. 'Congestion,' thought Kate. 'That's it. He is staying home tomorrow. I'm not going to risk have a sick husband on many hands. That is not when I can have a healthy one in my arms.' Walking over to the crib she peered down at her son as he clinched his tiny fists, smacked his lips a couple of times, squirmed a bit and then settled back down.

Was it a good dream she asked? Did you kick the bad guy's ass? Or did you hit a grand slam to win the World Series for the Yankees. Your Grandfather would love that you know. Turning back to her husband she thought 'Sleep well Love. After I eat I will be in to join you.'

**Next Morning**

Castle woke early to the sight and sound of his wife dressing. Kate had just tossed her hair over the back of her blouse was starting to button up the front. "Hey," Castle said as he reached out to touch Kate on her arm. On one of Kate's earlier 'sleep overs' Castle had surprised Kate, while the make-up was memorable, the initial pain was intense. He had learned his lesson. A surprised Kate could be a dangerous Kate. A properly warned Kate was well Kate. "Does this mean I'm on the bench today?"

"Yes." She whispered. "Today is most definitely a paperwork day. We need to be sure the paper work is complete for the people we arrested yesterday. It could be couple days before we get back to investigating."

"If they let you," he said." I got a feeling that they are going to declare victory, pull you guys off, and then act surprised when they discover the next warehouse. "

"Probably," she agreed as she turned to look at Castle. As she leaned back in to give her husband a quick kiss and all the events of the previous week hit her, the raids, the shooting in the warehouse, the assassination attempt, the tension from all of the unwanted attention, and the bomb blast. The quick kiss turned into a long and passionate embrace.

"What if I told you that out of all of my wives, you are the best kisser," whispered Castle.

Kate arched her back away from Castle and looked down. "You know that is not very enduring." She did not resist when Castle pulled her into another embrace that was even more specular than the first.

"What if I said, that that you are the best kisser in the world?"

"The detective in me would be skeptical. The Kate in me would just want more," she said as she slowly pressed her lips to his for a third even more spectacular kiss. This time no words interrupted their collective sighs.

Eventually Castle stirred, "Get off of me women," he teased, "so I can fix us some breakfast, " his attempt to swat her behind thwarted by the bedding.

"I was just going to have some more of the chicken and noddle's."

"I'm not having that and neither are you. Take it with you and nuke it for lunch if you want, but let me fix you something for breakfast. Now let me up you Amazon." This time he succeeded in his attempt to swat Kate. She quickly captured the offending hand, kissed and released it.

"Go on. I will be out in a minute." She rolled to her side of the bed and started putting on her shoes. A moment later she was standing beside James' crib and looking down at his sleeping face, so much like his fathers. After a gentle kiss, Kate looked at the bedroom door through which Castle had just left. 'We will start number two soon' she promised herself. With a sigh she unlocked the gun safe, retrieved her weapon and her credentials, grabbed her coat and was almost ready to assume the mantle of a Police Sergeant. But first she had to tell her husband what a certain Inspector said.

As Kate neared the kitchen, her Detective senses seemed to kick in. Let me see, five pieces of bacon on the griddle, two for each of us and one for the bacon thief, me smiled Kate. Coffee made, but not quite ready. Something is in the microwave, sausage? Something in the toaster? Yes.

"Hey love," Castle said as he put down a couple of eggs and readied a couple of slices of cheese.

The toaster popped revealing the bagels. Ah got it, sausage, egg, bacon and cheese bagels, we need saucers, cups, and juice glasses. As Kate moved to set the breakfast bar she said, "Castle we need to talk."

"If it's about the crack I made comparing you to my Ex's I apologize."

"It's not that, and you apologized exquisitely. No it's something else."

"Do you have less than a year to live? Are you leaving me for another man?"

"Castle"laughed Kate "this is serious."

"You know my rule, unless you are dying or leaving me, it can wait until after I've finished cooking."

After the bagels had been made and served, and the coffee and juice poured Kate began. "Last night, after you left, a certain individual said that you deserve a wife responsible enough to care for your children."

"It's unfortunate that Red said that. Who else heard?"

"Probably half the room. How did you know it was Red?"

Castle shrugged, "He is the only one who would think that way. His generation really didn't approve of women in the work force. It is just the why he was brought up. Don't worry about it. I'm not."

Castle took a bite of his bagel, a sip of his coffee, wiped his hands on a paper towel and then slowly reached out, grabbed Kate's hand and slowly touched her wedding band. "The last time I checked the only person responsible for determining the attributes of my wife, was well me. Believe me I like the package I got and I will not be trading it in anytime soon. I could say I married her because she was smart, beautiful, and sexy as hell and a whole host of other reasons. They would all be true, but the real reason is when I look into her eyes I can see that she loves me. Not some rich and famous author. Me. And I promise I will do anything and everything I can to keep her safe, happy and healthy. I love her so much that I would die for her if it's required and live for her if I must. My only regret is that I did not meet her sooner. If I did I might have a fewer Ex's."

Kate broke eye and hand contact for a moment. After she had grabbed Castle's hand and gently touched his wedding band she looked up. "It is true that I married a man who is rich, famous, handsome and intelligent. I did so but not for those reasons. When I look into his eyes I see his unconditional love for me. It's scary sometimes. I ask myself what I did to earn this, but then I look into his eyes and see that it does not matter. And I will do anything and everything I can to keep him safe, happy and healthy. Not for his sake, but for mine. I feel the most alive when he is by my side. I will do everything I can to spend the rest of my life with him. For I know I would be lost without him. My only regret is that I was too messed up to recognize and act on his love earlier. We lost that time, but I'm not going to allow anything to steal time away from us ever again. "

After a long moment Kate let go and they resumed eating.

"You know," said Castle "I was going to suggest that for our anniversary this year we go some place beautiful and special and renew our vows."

"I think we just did," said Kate. "And I can't think of a more beautiful and special place then the kitchen table of our home."

"Me either," said Castle in a low voice.

"But that is not the point that bothers me," confided Kate. "The inspector's comment touched a sore nerve with me. I don't feel that I'm spending enough time with James."

"Good," said Castle. "I'm glad you feel that way." When he saw the astonished look on Kate's face he continued. "You have a dangerous but necessary job. To do it right means that sometimes you are going to have to spend extra time away from home. You are going to have to accept that. Just as you are going to have to make an effort spend quality time with James when you are home, and you are doing that," he reassured her. "You read to him, sit with him and play with him. All great stuff. I can tell you that as he grows older it will be a little more difficult because of his activities, but you, no we can do it."

"I can also tell you that I will not allow you to be an absentee Mom. I lived through one already with Alexis and I'm not going to live through it again. Even if it means showing up at the station house and dragging you out to go to a play, a game, or a whatever."

"Castle," Kate laughed. But she heard the convection in Castle's every word, and she had no doubts that he would try to do what he said. In her mind's eye she watched the scene play out where Castle and James swoop in disrupt a meeting and leave with her in tow. "Help me be there for him," she asked.

"You bet." The rest of the meal was spent in a very comfortable silence.

**At the 12****th**

Kate arrived at the precinct forty-five minutes early. After she has stowed her purse, grabbed a coffee, she grabbed a red marker and wrote on the murder board 'WE ARE NOT DONE – JUST ON HOLD.' In another color on another section of the board she wrote –ALL - EOS (end of shift)– Olde Haunt.

Next see divided the names of the detainees into three piles for records review by her Team. Next she scheduled interviews for those prisoners who wanted to meet with them. As an afterthought she left a message for the ADA's notifying them of the interviews and inviting them to join her Team if they thought it would be worthwhile. The last thing she did before the start of the daily stand-up was compile a list of documents that needed to be completed before they started to search in depth again for other warehouses and distribution centers.

As Sergeant Beckett got up and went around her desk to start the meeting, she was interrupted by Captain Gates. "Sergeant if I may….You guys are to be congratulated. Based on the evidence you developed you organized and executed four successful raids that netted the sixth largest drug haul in the city's history, their delivery trucks, cash, and their front office staff. I'm confident that if there are any more facilities like this out there we will find them."

"Captain," said Sergeant Ted Johns, the Narcotic POC. "I may sound like one of the commodities reporters on one of the business channels, but the price of drugs on the street has gone up. Not as high as we thought, but high enough. Captain, the office will probably issue an advisory saying that because of the increase in price of drugs on the street, we should expect an increase in B&E's, muggings, robberies, and homicides. Mostly of the pop and drop variety. As a heads up my brass will want to talk to your Team in depth about how they generated the evidence."

"Both things were to be expected," the Captain replied.

"Captain Gates, Sergeant Beckett," said Special Agent Crockett. "My management has directed me to terminate the Bureau's support effective COB today. We are essentially mission complete. We did find the warehouse and I'm reasonably confident we can put together a plan of attack to see if this business model is being used in other cities. The software portal will remain open for at least three months and we will post all of the intelligence we collected yesterday there. Furthermore Dr. Woods is still working the international issues as well as the financial angles. I will say I think we found enough evidence yesterday to put the one bank into receivership. Which to me is good news. Captain Gate you have a great house here and you guys are one of the most professional teams I have ever worked with and does - ALL EOS - Olde Haunt mean what I think it does?"

"If you are thinking drinks and food to celebrate the completion of a successful mission then yes," said Kate. "And yes even the FBI is invited."

"Outstanding," smiled Crockett. "One other thing. My management had a message for Mr. Castle. Is he around?"

"No," said Detective Beckett. "When ever there is paperwork to do he disappears. Does the message concern a phone call he got yesterday from Gino?"

"Why yes it does," said a slightly amused Crockett.

"I must admit that Detective Beckett was furious when Mr. Castle stepped in and prevented Gino from possibly incriminating himself. On the other hand, Kate Castle knows that her husband's since of honor and fair play is second to none and he would not let Gino compromise himself, especially when it seems like he is trying to do them a favor."

"Got it in one Detective, but I do seem to recall the story about a certain female AG agent whose sense of honor and fair play got her fired."

"Touché," said Kate. "Let's say it runs in the family."

"Was there anything else in the phone call Detective?" asked Captain Gates.

When Sergeant Beckett did not answer Special Agent Crockett did. "It seems they still are trying to hire a mechanic, and the money has gotten incredibly high."

"Detective?" said Gates in a disapproving tone of voice.

"This was all pre-raid Sir, and I did not think it reflected a change in status."

"Carry on," said Captain Gates not at all pleased with this turn of events. Five minutes later Sergeant Beckett had completed the stand-up and had handed out the assignments. When the Captain looked back she was amazed at the number of people in the bull-pen area. With all of these people here I don't have to worry much about rumor control she thought to herself.

For Sergeant Beckett the morning flew by. The document review revealed a couple of discrepancies that were easily corrected. She was on her second interview with Mr. Jacobs, the accountant from the office building when Esposito knocked o n the door and came in along with Ryan.

"Sergeant the Captain needs to speak with you. We'll finish this for you."

"Subject?" asked Kate.

"Don't know," Esposito replied avoiding Kate's eyes.

"What's this," commented Mr. Jacobs "Bad cop- good cop."

"If Beckett comes back in here it will be more like ferocious cop," said Esposito. "You see we just got a report that a man, a woman, and a small child were killed in a park near their apartment. The descriptions match those of her husband, their child, and their nanny. Normally they go to that park to play around this time."

"I… I know nothing about this. I mean I heard some rumors about hiring a hit man, but I know nothing about this."

"You know if it is them, she is going to storm into here and want a piece of you. I don't think I can hold her back and really I'm not sure I would want to."

"Hopefully you can hold her back long enough for me to turn off the recording devices," said Ryan. "Then you are on your own."

"Guys I really don't know anything about this."

"Then I suggest you tell me what you know."

"ok…."

Kate walked out of the integration room, looked up at the TV screen saw the headlines about the shooting in her park and froze in panic. "Call Castle," said Captain Gates who had miraculously appeared at her elbow. When the call went into voice mail Gates saw the blood drain from Kate's face and worry take root in her eyes.

**Rick and James**

When Castle returned to the bedroom after taking his shower James was already standing up in his crib. "ayhsjd…"

"Hi yourself. Waiting for me are you. Ok, let's change your diaper, put on some clean clothes and then get you something to eat. "

After feeding James Rick called Amy to tell her she had today and tomorrow off. With the weekend near she should have plenty of time to study for her mid terms. Next he joined James on the floor with his toys. "What are we doing today?"

When James picked up a block, moved it into Rick's office and came back for more, Dad got the hint. "Blocks in my office, got it." In a flash father in son and the blocks were in the office, a screen was in place to prevent James from walking out, light jazz was playing on Castle's office music system. James was stacking and knocking down the blocks and Castle was explaining the last chapter of the book out loud.

"This is where I bring in all of the results. I tell them that the Major is leaving and leaving the city in much better financial shape than when he took office. I will take about the fact that the General Fund has money in the bank. The budget has a slight surplus that could grow larger if the economic strengthens. All this and he has increased the number of parks, first responders, libraries and a lot more. What do you think?"

"biuskjl.."

"Yea, I like it too." Castle was in a literary zone. He flew through the first fifteen pages of the chapter in record time and pranced through the last seven like a unicorn in a wildflower field. This is good, he told himself. Then it hit him. It was quite.

"druhgreg.." said James.

"Yeah I'm done," said Castle. "How about I feed you a small snack, then we go to the park early and then I take you some place special."

James responded by falling down, getting back up and heading toward the door.  
"Wait for me," called Castle.

Today was another glorious warm Indian Summer Day. For the middle of October it was absolutely fantastic. The sky was a clear blue canvass with only the contrails of planes marking it. The trees in the park were a little bit past their peak color but still vibrant, and the small animal population was out in force. Castle watched James watch the antics of the chipmunks as they game close to eat the sunflower seeds Castle had sprinkled about. He heard James yell when the pigeons flew in to eat the bread they had been tossing to the smaller birds and squirrels. And he thought he heard James laugh when they saw a rabbit dash from bush to bush across the park.

And of course they were visited by their friends, the park regulars, Tim and Carroll, Bob and Mae, Susan and Mike, and Tony and Andrea. No description of a trip to the park could be complete without describing the dogs, from Susan a border collie with such a sweet face to a Raymond a bull dog whose face only his mother could love. All the humans, their pets, the park natives, and Mother Nature all combined to make the time in the park pleasant and pass quickly. Pretty soon you are going to be big enough to start playing, thought Castle. Then we will really have fun.

Castle had James in one arm and was handing money to the cabbie when his phone went off. It always happens this way, thought Castle. Let me see, it was Kate.

"Hey love, what's up? James I think Mommy was calling to check up on us."

"asrsdjhf"

When Kate didn't answer, "Kate. What's wrong?"

After a moment Kate recovered. "I called because on the news there was a shooting in our park. A man, a woman, and a small child and it sounded a lot like You, James and Amy."

"James… arms full… cabbie," Captain Gates heard Kate mumble. "Where are you? …..Library."

Captain Gates watched Kate's posture straightened, her eyes take on the look of the huntress on the trail of a kill and when she looked in her direction Captain Gates said. "No you are not going to get this case."

"But Sir."

"No Detective."

"She said no before I could ask Castle. I think we are going to lose this fight Babe so let's pick another…..Dinner ….I told the troops we would do the Olde Haunt tonight. ….Ok ….let me know about the baby sitter.…But James is too young to get his own library card!"

**Chapter 15 – Unexpected Journey**

It was the first week of December and a little over seven weeks since the Team had celebrated the drug busting success at the Olde Haunt. True to Castle's prediction, and Kate's fear, the day after the celebration the Team had been called down to the second warehouse for a dog and pony with the press, publicly honored by the Mayor and released back to Homicide by the Chief. In the interval that followed the crime wave that Sergeant Ted Johns of Narcotics predicted came true, and the number of homicides had increase fourfold over the previous year. As a consequence Kate's Team had been extremely busy. So busy in fact that no Team member had had an off day in several months, and even their 'On Call' days had been filled with cases. They had not heard of Narcotics taking down a single warehouse or even making serious attempts to find them.

But things were looking up. The first cold wave of winter had driven people off of the streets. This morning they had closed their last case with a confession and there were no more open, uncovered homicides. With the weekend coming up, the Team may be able to stand down for a couple of days and recharge. 'A weekend off,' thought Kate. That would be outstanding.

Somehow Castle had managed to finish both the 'Heat' and the 'Mayor' books. Well the 'Mayors' book was technically in final edit, but the hard work had been finished. The book would be ready for print and distribution by the middle of January. The 'Heat' book had been released before Thanksgiving and had entered the best sellers list at number eight and had moved up to number five. With no near term deadlines Castle told Kate he was just going to enjoy the Holiday Season with them and start his new projects after New Year's.

"Sergeant where is Mr. Castle?" asked Captain Gates.

"With the confession he knew we would be switching into paperwork mode, and being the paperwork lightweight that he is, he went home to be with James," replied Beckett.

"Contact him please. The Chiefs want him, you and me Downtown in fifty minutes."

"Subject Sir?"

"I don' know," replied the Captain. The subtext was clear; a summons to the Chief's offices for no particular reason could not be good news.

"I'll try Sir."

"Babe, where are you," asked Beckett.

"I just got out of the cab in front of the Loft. It seems that New Yorkers forgot how to drive in snow."

"Well grab another one and meet me and Captain Gates in the Chief's office as soon as you can, and not even Captain Gates knows why."

"Well check in with rumor control. If Espo and Kevin don't know then it's probably not serious," commented Castle. "I'll be there when I can."

When the Captain and Sergeant Beckett entered the Chief's conference room they saw two familiar, if not friendly faces, Special Agent Crockett and Dr. Mary Woods.

"Mr. Castle is…."

"On his way Sir. I checked when we parked. He was six blocks away and he said the traffic was starting to move better," replied Sergeant Beckett.

"We have some time, go help yourself to some coffee. You certainly know where it is," said the Chief.

"I'm good," said Captain Gates in response to the unasked question.

As Kate was heading back the elevator opened and Rick appeared. She waited, handed him his coffee and together they entered the conference room.

"As you may or may not be aware we have had some success in finding the drug warehouses and the supporting infrastructure. We have had success in Dallas, Houston, and Baltimore," began Special Agent Crockett. "Currently my team is in the middle of an investigation in San Francisco. While we have been busy domestically, Dr. Woods has been looking at the international aspects of this problem. "

"Yes, I have been working with INTERPOL and some of our Intelligence Agencies and I think I have found out the who behind this business model and where they are located. Also I have also been able to track the cash flow out of the country. I think we have enough evidence to force the shutdown of several banks and the arrest of several lawyers who specialize in the creation of shell companies. But what we need is for someone to go over to France and work directly with INTERPOL for a couple of weeks. Ty's people are the obvious choice but as he said they are currently engaged. When we all talked about it, and I do mean all, INTEL, Justice, FBI, AG,… they agreed that you guys, and we do mean the both of you, are a viable asset and probably do a great job for us. So here we are, asking."

"I speak for the Commissioner and myself when I say that we support this activity and will make Detective Beckett available if she agrees to the assignment."

"When does it start and for how long?" asked Kate.

"Two weeks, and we were hoping you could leave tomorrow and start Monday," said Crockett. "So we are hoping for an immediate Yes answer."

"If you want an immediate answer, then the answer is No," said Kate.

"You could go by yourself," offered Castle.

"I could, but there excellent reasons why I shouldn't, so therefore I'm not," replied Kate in a tone of voice that even the Chief's interpreted as being nonnegotiable.

"My I ask why," asked the Chief?

"If we both left we would leave no one at home to look after our son," said Kate as she reached up to grab Castle's free hand which was lying on the table.

"Crap," said the Chief. "Talk about a couple of embarrassed fools. Of course."

"Sir is there?" said Castle as he pulled out his phone.

"My office, "said the Chief of Detectives.

After the Castle's had left Captain Gates began. "Can the start date be delayed? I mean in a couple of weeks the fall semester will be over and their daughter, Alexis might be able to look after James?"

"If we delayed then they get lost in the holiday schedule and they may never get to completion," said Special Agent Crockett. "Also we verbally committed to have people over there on Monday, and it would look extremely bad if we didn't make it."

"I wish we could have given you more warning," said Dr. Woods. "But we discovered the linkage on Saturday, verified it on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday's meeting got snowed out, so we met on Thursday and here we are on Friday morning hoping we can find a good solution."

"Chief if you ordered Sergeant Beckett I'm sure that she would go," said Captain Gates. "She won't like it, but she will do her duty."

"I agree Sir," said the Chief of  
Detectives.

"Special Agent, Doctor, is there anyone else remotely available?" asked the Chief.

"Not really Sir," Said Crockett. "I took the heat from the Deputy Director for this, but my hands are tied. I really don't have the manpower."

"Ok," continued the Chief. "We will draft Beckett as a last resort."

Presently Sergeant Beckett returned to the conference room, "We have a baby-sitter Sir, so we can take the assignment, but I'm going to need some days. You see Sir one of the negotiating points was that we do some of our baby-sitters Christmas shopping in Paris. So I'm going to need the time."

"How long?"

"We plan to return on the Wednesday after we finish with INTERPOL, Christmas Eve. So it depends on how you count, either five days or three."

"I only count one Detective and I'm willing to overlook that. Approved Detective," said the Chief, "Captain, your duty roster…"

"Will reflect Sergeant Beckett on TDY through the 24th, off on the 25th and her next day of duty in the 12th will be on the 26th.

"Agreed. Sergeant, Where is Mr. Castle?"

"One of the nice things about being married to a famous author is that he has a Publicist and he has the support of a publishing house. The Publicist has a first class travel agency on retainer, and the agency was working on the planes, trains, hotels, and other things. When I left his publisher was trying to convince Castle to do some book signings and readings in exchange for me to have a chaperoned shopping experience. Except for missing James I think everything will work out."

"Sergeant," said Special Agent Crockett, "all of the files you need and the contact information is in the INTERPOL folder on the portal. It's too big to fit on a CD, so please use a thumb drive. Needless to say, protect the drive."

"I'll pull one from IT and download the information when I get back to the precinct," said Sergeant Beckett.

When Castle returned he announced, "Kate we are set. We leave tomorrow night at six-fifteen and get back around eleven-thirty Christmas Eve morning. Everything in country is set, hotels, train tickets and so on."

When the Castles had cleared Passport Control, collected their luggage and found a cab, Kate was glad that Rick had chosen the train option instead of driving. Even though they had flown first class Kate still felt like she had been up all night and the prospect of a three hour drive was daunting.

Over breakfast at the train station Kate vowed that she and Rick would maintain their diets on this trip and they would get the exercise they need. She promised herself that she would do this even if she had to embarrass Castle at the table and physically drag him outside to take a walk. She had seen what his book tours had done to him and she was not going to let that happen.

The train was not very crowded and they quickly stored their luggage, Kate set down in the window seat facing Castle and quickly zoned out as the train left the station and headed toward INTERPOL Headquarters in Lyon. About an hour into the journey Kate's nap was disturbed when she heard.

"Mike honey, isn't that Richard Castle?"

"I believe so dear," said answering male voice.

Kate pretended to be asleep as the conversation continued and was annoyed with Castle when he invited them to join them.

"Kate, this is Bev Jones and her husband Michael. She is a beginning 'Romance Novelist' and Professor Jones teaches history at the University of Maine," said Castle by way of introduction. Professor Jones was a tad over six feet, fairly broad in the shoulders, appeared to be in his middle fifties and was in excellent shape. His hair was obviously dyed, but in his jacket and behind his glasses he appeared to be every inch a college Professor. His wife was in her middle to late twenties, a very cute face and a body type similar to Kate's, but Kate would have bet the farm that she was not a natural blonde.

As they talked something seemed to nag at Kate. Something was not quite right. For one thing their 'dears' and 'honeys' seemed too practiced, and their stories seemed well polished, too well rehearsed. Later, Kate didn't remember how, the conversation got around to children.

"We have one," Kate said as she reached for Castle's phone with it's treasure trove of stored pictures. "He is named James Alexander. James for my father and Alexander is Castles' given middle name. I would like to have used one of the names of Castle's father, but we don't know that much about him."

On the sixth or seventh photo Kate said, "He has his father's eyes." When she looked up through Mike's obviously fake glasses she had to suppress a gasp. Looking back at her was a very similar set of eyes in an older face.

"Yes he does," was Mike's reply. At that moment Kate knew that the man sitting across from her was her father-in law. Her conscious mind stayed on automatic as she continued to show the pictures and talk about James, but her unconscious mind was churning. Castle had told her that his Dad was CIA and the only reason she could think of him being here was to protect them, and that meant that a hit was still out on them and they were on unfamiliar ground. She checked their situation and nodded. 'Mike and Bev' were sitting in the aisle seats and facing each other which meant that each was watching the back of the other. She had to admire their protection approach. Fellow Americans on a trip and a beginning author soliciting the help of a master. Not a bad way to hid in plain sight and keep their charges on a leash. When Kate looked at Castle he nodded his understanding.

'Of course he did,' she thought. 'He recognized his father and that's why he invited them to sit with us. If I didn't love him so much I probably would kill him for putting me through this.'

As the train was approaching the season Castle volunteered, "We are staying at the Hilton."

"After we check in, we are going to take a long walk, eat a light early supper then call it a day. We have a long day tomorrow and we need to be awake for it," said Kate.

She saw the couple exchange looks, "That's a pretty good plan Kate," said Bev. "We just might do the same thing."

**Chapter 16 The Joys of International Co-operation **

Even though they were expected and visit request information had been passed, it still took over an hour and a half to get through Security and Pass and Identification. The good news was that when they left the office they had a photo-id valid for the next two weeks.

After they met their Belgian's sponsors, Vincent and Charlotte, it took another forty-five minutes to get the Thumb Drive screened and cleared. Around eleven o'clock they were finally able to start work. For the rest of the day, with a quick dash to the cafeteria for lunch, they worked through the data that Dr. Woods had provided. The Team was excited, the data that Dr. Woods provided filled in some of the gaps and made a compelling case for closing several of the banks. They informed Kate and Rick that the next step in the process was for the collective team to brief host country members and they would forward it on to the host countries for action. That is when the Castle's really understood INTERPOL's role in the international law enforcement community as an intelligence clearing house and not and active agent.

True to her word, when they got back to the hotel, Kate forced Castle to change and strong-armed him down to the exercise room to stretch and a light work-out. Afterwards they moved to the side of the pool where they had plenty of room and began their baton work. When they ended an hour later it was to the sound of applause. Kate had kept them on point and they had completely ignored the crowd that was gathering around them. The crowd included a pair of local police officers who had responded to the hotel's call of a disturbance in the pool area. When they saw that it was only a pair of guests working out, they notified the hotel that everything was all right, stayed around to watch and afterwards to meet them. After all, the Lady was very easy to watch and the man was too skilled to ignore.

When the local police came up to talk to the Castle's they were very abrupt and critical of people who routinely carried weapons of this kind, and did they know that permits were required. When Kate explained that she was a NYPD Detective and she and her husband was here to consult on a case with INTERPOL they backed off a bit and one member of the Team split off, presumably to check on their stories. When he returned he was all smiles and had two stamped carry permits. "Of course a police officer would want to carry a weapon when she is out and about. It is only natural. Don't worry about the fees, it's the least we could do for a colleague, and let's hope that you will not need them while you are staying here in Lyon."

After they had cleaned up and dressed, they went to eat at a place their planner in NYC said they must go to, Cafe du Soleil. She was right the entire meal was excellent. Even though it was a chilly December evening, the Castle's finished the day by taking a leisurely stroll around the square, through the small park and back to the hotel.

Tuesday was business as usual for their Belgian's sponsors, Vincent and Charlotte, but slow torture for the Castles. They conducted five separate briefings. If body language was any indication, the people would dutifully pass on the information to their parent organizations where it would sit practically forever, and by the time anyone acted the links and the case would probably be gone. With Vincent's help, Castle did manage to schedule a lunchtime symposium for tomorrow. "Credit Cards and Home Delivery, How the Drug Cartels take Customer service to the next level."

"We had to do something to try to get the message out. Otherwise we are just bashing our heads against the wall," explained Castle as they were heading down to the exercise room and round two. Like yesterday the crowd responded with applause when they had finished their baton work. Unlike yesterday they were confronted with polite questions and requests for autographs. Inquires had been made and answers given. The pair in question was indeed Richard Castle and his wife 'Nikki Heat.' Like the previous evening, the Castles ate out at a five-star restaurant and concluded their evening with a walk.

Wednesday morning was pure torture for the Castles. None of the people that they had briefed yesterday called back to discuss any of the points. To the Castle's the message was clear either the people they briefed yesterday understood everything, highly unlikely, or there really wasn't much interest. The audience for the lunchtime seminar was disappointing. Three people, a German who would later admit that the only reason he went into the room was to avoid his colleague who was continuing his lecture on the greatest Italian soccer goalies of all time, the Italian soccer expert, and a Briton who only attended because his supervisor ordered him to.

When Kate stated that the operation in NYC was doing at least a million a week USD in credit card sales, the German Interpol Agent became animated.

"You can prove this?" he said.

"Unfortunately yes," said Castle. "Think about it," he continued. "This is money they do not have to launder. As far as all the records are concerned, the client bought five hundred dollars worth of 'Asian novelties.' The company declares it as income pays whatever in taxes and moves on. The big advantage is that the cash is unencumbered. To all it looks like a legal business transaction, because it is, except of course that the item being bought was drugs and not novelties. After a bounce or two, the company can do anything it wants with the money. "

"And using the mail, Fed EX, or other commercial delivery services gets rid of the visible drug dealer, and without someone to look at we are blind," added Detective Beckett.

"An invisible drug distribution and money collection network," exclaimed the Briton. "No wonder you guys wanted to track and target the banks where the money flows into. "

After that the meeting turned into a productive give and take session.

When the Castle's had finished their lunch and returned to check in with their sponsors, they had been informed that seven different countries had called and asked for briefings. Charlotte said she had taken the liberty and booked the main conference room for tomorrow morning and issued a specific invitation to the seven country groups that had called, and followed that up with a general announcement. Vincent confided that he had never seen the Headquarters react this positively before and tomorrow they would have a huge opportunity to get their message out.

Today when the Castle's finished their baton work no one was around, and that was fine with them. While they both enjoyed the applause, they really were self-conscious about people watching them workout. Beside with an audience around Castle could not do the really important things, like grabbing his wife taking a few running steps and jumping into the pool with her. Although pay-back was inevitable, Castle had to admit that Kate's shriek was priceless.

As the Castle's exit the taxi cab after returning from eating dinner at one of the restaurants 'on the river' Castle shivered involuntarily. The wind had picked up, the temperature had dropped, and the air seemed to hold the promise of snow. "Shall we," he said as he folded Kate's arm in his and they started, what had become their evening constitutional. They had gone maybe fifty feet when they heard, "KATE, RICK, DOWN NOW!"

Castle's head snapped up and saw the car speeding toward them on an otherwise empty street. He immediately dove and tried to pull Kate under him. Kate also spotted the car and instinctively reached for her gun. The surprise of not finding it was displaced as she felt Castle tackle her. Together they hit the pavement and heard the sounds of automatic weapons and the sounds of breaking glass as the initial burst past over their heads and impacted the glass storefronts behind them. A terribly long moment later they heard two small explosions and then a much louder one, then silence.

When they stood up they could see two figures in the park walking rapidly away.

"We heard a shout and dove," said Castle. "Afterwards we saw to people in the park walk away."

"You dove, I reached for my gun. Luckily you drug me down before the bullets came, and it was too dark to make out any details on the people in the park," said Kate. "Now let's go see if anyone is hurt." Neither one had a question as to who told them to dive and killed the assassins. They also knew that they wouldn't talk about it. They waved to the hotel Doorman who was running their way and pointed to the store whose windows had taken a beating. He nodded his understanding and changed course. They entered the second store and found three unhurt but shaken up people. Retracing their steps they heard the Doorman say that everyone was alright in the first store and the police had been called. "Now we wait," said Castle as he pulled Kate's coat collar up to cover her ears.

Sergeant Beckett and Mr. Castle watched with a practiced eye as the police came, secured the crime scene and started rounding up the witnesses who appeared to be Kate, Rick, the Doorman, and perhaps several of the taxicab drivers.

Their INTERPOL Badges and Kate's NYPD Sergeant Shield bought them instant courtesy. When they apologized for separating them for questioning Kate replied, "Officer we know and respect the reasons so don't worry about it."

After the fifth time through the questions, the Officer questioning Castle asked, "What would your wife's answers be to these questions?"

"Pretty similar I would guess," remarked Castle. "If you think we did not compare notes you would be mistaken."

"You didn't go look at the car or chase after the two you saw I the park. Why?"

"The guys in the car were dead. So there was nothing we could do for them. I don't think we could have caught those guys leaving the park even if we were in running shoes. So we decided if we could help the living."

"A common sense approach," he admitted.

"Are we about through?"

"I'm afraid not. The National Police will be here shortly and you will have to go through the questioning again."

Castle looked at Kate and saw her shiver. "Can we wait in the hotel lobby? Kate looks incredibly cold."

"Oh, of course, let's go."

Castle walked over to his wife, grabbed her arm and headed toward the warmth of the hotel with members of the Local Police in tow. He steered her into a comfortable chair and looked up as the Concierge approached. "Coffee for me and my wife," Castle said "and ten coffees in Styrofoam cups for the Local Police."

"At once," he replied and hurried off.

"Trying to bribe us, Sir?" laughed the Officer that had questioned Castle.

"Hotel coffee, Seriously?"

"It's not the intrinsic value of the gift that determines the value of the bribe," he replied. "But the value of the gift when it was given."

"And hot coffee on a cold winter's night?"

"Worth its weight in diamonds," he replied.

"Should I cancel the order?"

"Only if you want to spend another four or five hours in questioning before the others get here."

"I understand."

"It's clear that your wife married a very perceptive man. "

"Do not tell her that. It would cause her to question your judgment."

As they were laughing, he looked back at Kate and did not like her color at all.

As he walked toward her a member of the hotel hurried over and handed Kate a blanket. After she had folded the blanket around herself Castle went over and grabbed her hand. It was ice-cold. "I'll be ok Babe, " she whispered.

"I know," he replied in a whisper. "I'm worried about me. Knowing how you like to cuddle, if you go to bed with cold hands and feet I will never get to sleep."

The glare then laughter that erupted from Kate did more to relieve Castle than anything else she could have said or did. Unmistakably at that moment the National Police arrived. 'Round 2' they both thought. As integrator's these guys deserve full marks, thought Castle. They had found very inventive ways to ask the same question many many times. Thankfully they had not asked a question where he had to purposely mislead them.

Finally he was reunited with Kate, who was looking a lot better.

"I think you guys are holding something back, but I can't put my finger on it. You guys are leaving me with an open unsolvable case," the Lieutenant who was leading the investigation said. "And you Sergeant know exactly what that means."

"Yes Sir," Kate replied.

"So I am going to give you my theory of the case. Please tell me what you think. I'm hoping that by Captain will as you say 'buy it.' "

"It begins with a pair of US citizens that are here working with INTERPOL on a very important case. These people have been targeted for death before by this criminal group. Once the female Officer was able to shoot their attacker and the next time the husband was able to detonate a bobby-trap."

"Now they are her in France and their country, recognizing their importance, has assigned them a baby-sitter. This baby-sitter is not of the normal variety. It is very special. It is access to excellent intelligence, untraceable weapons and is authorized to use them. They neutralized the threat and created only minimal collateral property damage."

"I am not going to mourn the deaths of those two Eastern European's. They both had records including murder the preverbal mile long. What I am really pissed about is your baby-sitter killed them in my country and with complete disregard for the rules and laws of my nation. And you Mr. Castle can understand that."

"I do," said Castle. "And as a storyteller myself, I like this one. It has good triumphing over evil and leaves the audience to pass judgment on a very sensitive topic. However I do not believe that Captain Gates, Sergeant Beckett's superior offer, would like it. She is more pragmatic then practical. Practically speaking this is a good story, because it allows you to acknowledge the fact that you probably aren't going to get closure, but from a pragmatic point of view it is unacceptable."

"Exactly," said the Lieutenant. "Is there anything you can do to help?"

"Afraid not Sir," said Kate. "You know everything that we know."

"I don't think so but I'm going to accept it. Good night to the both of you."

Later that night Kate tried her best to keep Castle awake all night, and her attempts had nothing to do with cold hands and feet.

**Next Morning**

The main conference room was full to overflowing. "There is nothing like a botched murder attempt to fill a room," Castle began the presentation to some laughter. "What we are going talk about is the new business practices and the invisible face of the drug dealer. A face that we never saw. A face that was unseen until two Officers, Sato and Garcia stumbled into a hornets nest. A face we might have never seen because we never knew where to look. "

Kate began her narrative with pictures of Fed Ex trucks, mail pouches, and credit cards and the summation of what they had confiscated in the raids on the warehouses. With the magnitude of the problem clearly established she and Castle told the whole, starting with an 'Officer needs Assistance' call to the events on the streets of Lyon last night. After a slow start, the audience warmed up, and the talk took on the flavor and interaction of Kate's Team discussing the case at the murder board.

The meeting ended in applause and bedlam, as the INTERPOL agents stormed the stage to offer their personal congratulations or to ask a question to clarify a point. After the crowd had dissipated looked down and saw one man sitting in the front row, the Briton that had attended the lunch time presentation.

"Sergeant Beckett, Mr. Castle, I understand you are booked here for the next week, spending some personal time in Paris then heading back to the States for the Holidays, Yes?" When Kate nodded, he continued. "Do you think I could persuade you to brief 'the Yard' on Saturday morning?"

"We would have to work out the details," said Kate, "But I think we could do that."

"Might I suggest you take the train in both directions? It is slower, but at least you will get there. The airlines here are at the mercy of ATC and sometimes there are three to four hour delays. At eleven-thirty tomorrow I'll give you lift to the train station. We will have people to collect you at the station and take you to your hotel. You should have time to get your exercise in before dinner. Oh, I will make sure your reception committee has your permits for your batons. "

"On Saturday we will collect you around eight-thirty and we will start by nine. I'll make sure that this briefing is loaded for you over there. I'm sure the Super will want to host you to lunch In the Hall. I can't help that. Sometimes the food is good. We should have you back at the hotel in time for your exercise and a night out yes? Oh, on Sunday you will want to arrive at the Terminus early. The Sunday Bruch at Roberto's is excellent."

"I am sorry Sir, we are booked for Friday and Saturday nights," said the lady manning the Reservations phone at the Grosvenor House. "Wait did you say your name was Castle? Mr. Richard E. Castle? The author?"

"Yes," said Castle somewhere between confused and amused.

"Let me get the Manager Sir. I'm sure we can accommodate you."

"Mr. Castle?" said a new voice. "I am Mr. Jenkins. I am the Day Manager. Of course we have a suite with a view of the Park for you and your wife Sergeant Beckett. Is there anything else I can do for you? Tickets? Reservations?"

"Yes, on Saturday night we will need two tickets to 'Something Wicked', Kate always enjoys that. Reservations for drinks and appetizers before the show at a good place within walking distance, and after theater reservations at a place that does a great sole for Kate and Prime Rib for me."

"Noted, we will see you on Friday Sir."

The rest of Thursday and Friday morning was spent responding to questions from agents and listening to some very good suggestions on how to do persistent surveillance for this type of activity.

The trip over to the UK and back was uneventful. Neither Castle nor Kate thought they would see his Dad on the train again and they were right. The highlight of the trip was the show, well Kate really, thought Castle. As usual Rick was having problems tying his tie. 'One of these days' he thought. When Kate walked in he could not seem to breathe. It had been more than a year since they had gone out in formal ware and Castle had forgotten how beautiful Kate really is. Tonight she was a vision in green. From the emerald necklace and earrings, to a dark green shawl, with matching shoes, and a light green dress that was low cut in front, and clung enticingly to the upper torso, and then flared out to allow Kate to walk easy but still allowed admirers to follow her sexy walk . The dress ended mid-calf. She had been to the hair dresser, and had returned with her hair piled high and secured by a pair of emerald color chop sticks, which Castle could not wait to pull free.

"Kate you are…"started Castle and unable to finish.

Kate watched Castle's eyes when she entered the room. This was the first time since James that they had gone out in formal ware and she wanted to be sure she still had it. The look on Castle's face was everything she had hoped for me and more. She liked her reflection in the mirror, but she liked the expression on his face even more.

"Here", she said. "I'll do that, again," she smiled.

When they kissed prior to leaving their suite, Castle felt Kate slip an object into his jacket pocket. The shape and weight was all too familiar. 'Just in case' her eyes said, but nothing dared to disrupt their perfect date night.

**Back at INTERPOL**

The next week at INTERPOL dragged. There was no follow up questions on either the banks or the business practices. In fact the highlight of the week is week Castle signed them up for the newcomer's orientation course. The interviews with the Section Chiefs were very informative. The Castle's continued their domestic routine, a brief workout followed by baton practice, dinner out, and then their nightly walk. Kate admitted that see liked her routine, then immediately felt guilty and missed James. The next morning she remedied that by calling Mrs. Ferguson and asking to speak with James and his "arddfe" was music to her ears and a balm for her soul.

**Chapter 17 An interlude in Paris**

When Castle started to plan the weekend in Paris Kate put her foot down. She agreed that would spend Saturday as tourists, but Sunday they would spend it as lovers do and the rest of the week could take care of itself.

The good news was they had a day to explore Paris. The bad news was they only had a day to explore Paris. Kate admitted that Castle's plan, Morning the Louvre (Guided Tour) Lunch the Eiffel Tower, Avenue des Champs-Elysees (shopping), Arc de Triomphe for the 6:30 Ceremony of Lights , Dinner theater at 7:30 then back to the Champagne Bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower was inclusive enough and relaxed enough to be enjoyable.

As they were eating lunch at Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower they were approached by an American couple, "You mind if we share your table," said the gentlemen. "They appear to have lost our reservation." I know this man, thought Kate. Then it hit her. It was her father-in-law and his companion and the change in their appearance was striking. What else would you expect, thought Kate after all they are spies.

Over lunch the Castles learned that their 'guests' were Melody and Jeff Jackson. They were wine buyers and had completed their purchases and their appeared to be no new wines worthy of their scrutiny. The subtext was clear; they had no Intel on threats to the Castles.

The shopping was marked by Castle continuing to thank Kate for agreeing to do the shopping for their baby-sitter. "Look Castle," Kate said in exasperation. "As far as shopping goes, I may not be in the same class as your Ex's and Martha, but I am still a card carrying member of the Sisterhood." Castle's response was to pull Kate close and kiss her. The dinner theater was unremarkable, but the nighttime view from the Champagne Bar at the top of the Eiffel Tower was unforgettable.

The next day stated with a 'top ten' love-making session, followed by round two in the shower and brunch downstairs in the hotel. The rest of the day they spent in the Art's Quarter, visiting small grottos and shops that seemed to appear out of nowhere and watching the people pass by as they enjoyed their coffee in the cafes, the weather too cold to sit outside. Eventually they ended up on the Pont Des Arts where Kate handed a lock.

For a moment Rick looked confused, then a smile unlike any Kate had ever seen broke out on Castle's face. Rick found a spot, locked the lock in place, and then handed the key to Kate. She kissed it, whispered something Castle could not hear and then launched the key out into the river Seine.

"You know you throw like a girl," commented Castle.

Kate's slap turned into a hug and ended up as a memorable kiss.

Monday was a 'normal road work day' for Castle, and for Kate the shopping excursion was a blur. She completed her shopping task in one day because she wanted to spend Tuesday morning in the Spa and Tuesday afternoon with her husband at his last engagement. Over dinner Monday Night Kate expounded on her purchases. She had blown her self-imposed budget, but she knew that Castle would not mind.

When Kate walked into the venue for Castle's last event she felt great, and if the glances from the men where any indication she looked great. When Kate saw the smile spread across Rick's face when he saw her and the gleam in her eyes she was happy. Eat your heart out Ladies and Gentlemen, thought Kate as she flowed into Rick's embrace and a passionate kiss that she knew was caught on numerous cameras. This man is mine and I am most definitely his.

"Mrs. Castle what a surprise," said the in-country organizer. "Will you be going Castle at the Table? Will Madame be joining her husband in the reading?"

"Yes, and Madame will be joining her husband only if Madame can pick the selection to be read."

"Let me get a chair for the table and another for the reading area. I'm sure the crowd will enjoy any section Madame selects."

In truth Kate had the same opinion about autographing sessions as Castle had about police paperwork. Namely they were things to be avoided at all costs. Kate was feeling guilty. The last week at Lyon had been bad and she was trying to make it up to her husband by keeping him company. Also she liked to read with him, and if this was the price then so be it.

The section Kate selected to read started out with police work at the station house and moved to confront a witness. This was interrupted by a chase and the capture of the bad guy and the section ended with a stolen kiss. When Kate leaned in and kissed Castle the place erupted.

**Homecoming**

Kate let Castle and the Doorman handle the bags. She hurried to the elevator, got off on the second floor, and hurried to Mrs. Ferguson's door, to James. When she entered she saw James's head snap in her direction. "Arfgt!" he said. She stood transfixed as James got up and started tottering as fast as he could in her direction. As he approached she got down on her knees and spread her arms wide. When he ran into them and gave Kate a hug she knew it was the start of her best Christmas ever.

**AFTERWORD**

It was late January and winter was once again beating up the city that Kate loved. She shivered as she got out of her Cruiser and headed toward the entryway that lead to the Loft, her home and her men. This had been a great week, they had caught the bad guy and he had confessed. She had some great and wonderful news to share.

When Kate entered the Loft she automatically checked the log, 'Martha's still out, that's ok,' she thought. Kate shorted the mail and took it with her into the bedroom. After stowing her credentials and weapon in the gun safe she changed into her 'house clothes' and went in search of the two men in her life.

Approaching Castle's office she heard their voices over the backdrop of classical music, 'Appalachian Spring by Copland' remarked Kate.

"Open this for me," she said handing the mail to Castle and then scooping up her son.

A couple of moments later Castle said, "It's a book…..Casino Royale…. And there is a posted note on the inside with two names."

"Good," said Kate with a huge smile. "Don't lose the names. In about seven-and-a-half to eight months we are going to need them." She watched the range of emotions play across her husband's face and settle on pure joy. 'I like that look' thought Kate.

"Paris?"

"Or Lyon, or London, or even NYC," said Kate. "But Paris is definitely the better story. Between Castles' kiss and hug and James' cry of "awdrt" Kate knew she was still celebrating the best Christmas ever.


End file.
